The Nubbinsville River Still Flows Through Troy, But Underground

By Stephanie Malench

smalench@timestribunenews.com

In the early days of Troy, there used to be a river that ran through Troy. The “Nubbinsville River” still runs through town, but nearly a century of development has covered it up and it now flows underground.

The river started at a mill pond that is now gone near where St. Paul’s Church and Richeson Funeral Home, flowing under Market St., coming up along Collinsville Rd.

It passes Troy cemetery on South Main going east under Route 162 until it ends at Windell Creek, dividing off a couple times along the way.

A few references exist to the river, beginning in 1885 when the area where the river started was known as the Village of Brookside. The Village straightened the river and “erected a neat and substantial sidewalk on the west side of the bridge over the branch near Troy cemetery”.

In May of 1903, the Troy City Council moved that the Street Commissioner repair the sidewalk at the bridge over the “Nubbinsville River”. Three years later, a new arch culvert was built over the river by Giesel Construction of St. Louis with a crew of six men.

Flooding was a major issue on at least two separate occasions on the “Nubbinsville River”.

The first mention was in 1915, when the Mill pond (which used to be in the wooded area behind Richeson Funeral Home east of W. Clay St.) was topped, but the levy did not break.

During that flood on June 28, the “Nubbinsville River left its banks and became a play area for “a number of small boys…to desport themselves in the water..  A horse belonging to Dan G. Liebler was out in the pasture and tried to cross the river. “It was caught in the swift current as tossed about, being a part of the time totally submerged. After being carried down stream nearly a hundred yards, the horse gained a footing and pulled itself out considerably the worse for wear..”