Details
Title [Broad Street Station fire, Philadelphia, June 1923] [graphic]
Publisher [Philadelphia]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1923
Date [June 1923]
Physical Description 1 photograph : gelatin silver ; sheet 20 x 25 cm (7.75 x 9.75 in.)
Description Scene showing smoke filled interior of the burnt train shed. Depicts laborers, including African Americans, clearing debris from a row of tracks upon which two burnt out train cars rest. Wires hang down from the skeletal framework ceiling. Fire hoses are strewn across the tracks. A camera and tripod rest on a walkway near the damaged trains. In the background, a group of well-dressed men and a group of firemen consult amongst debris. The fire, started 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 planned reopening by the end of that week.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
Date inferred from content.
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.) -- Disasters.
African American men -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Cameras.
Fire fighters -- 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 [P.8683.13]
Accession number P.8683.13