Details
Title [Broad Street Station fire, Philadelphia, June 12, 1923] [graphic]
Publisher [Philadelphia]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1923
Date [June 12, 1923]
Physical Description 1 photograph : gelatin silver ; sheet 20 x 25 cm (7.75 x 9.75 in.)
Description View of the interior of the burnt out train shed during the fire of June 11-13, 1923. Depicts several workers, including African Americans, building a new train platform and clearing debris from the tracks near the destroyed row of gates. Slightly damaged train cars and engines trapped by the fire, including "Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Circus," rest on the tracks. Large burnt pieces of the destroyed ceiling lay under a "Baggage Claim" sign. The Broad Street Station fire, started Monday, June 11, 1923 by a short circuited cable, was at the time considered one of the worst fires in the city's history with an estimated $1,500,000 worth of damage. By the second day, despite the fire continuing to burn in areas, 2000 laborers began to clear debris and set up umbrella shelters to prepare for the station's reopening at the end of that week.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
Date inferred from content.
Manuscript note on verso: Tues. noon.
Reproduced in Harry Albrecht. Broad Street Station.... (Harry P. Albrecht: Philadelphia: 1976), p.30. (LCP Ok A1026.O.5)
Purchase 1981.
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Broad Street Station (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Pennsylvania Railroad.
African American men -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Fires -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Laborers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Railroad construction & maintenance -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Railroad stations -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
African American laborers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Genre Gelatin silver prints -- 1920-1930.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| photo - unidentified - transportation - railroad [P.8683.9]
Accession number P.8683.9