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- Title
- Ruins of St. Augustines Church North 4th Street Phila Destroyed by a mob on the evening of the 8th of May 1844
- Description
- View showing the ruins of the Catholic church, at 260-262 North Fourth Street, destroyed by fire during the Nativist Riots of May 1844. Behind a stone and iron work fence, the damaged outer walls remain standing of the church that was built in 1801 after the designs of Douglas Fitzmaurice Fagan. On the sidewalk, pedestrians, including a pair of men and women and a couple, walk past, point, and discuss the ruins. Also shows another woman facing away from the destroyed church and a dog walking near the pair of men. The congregation formed in 1796 under Father Matthew J. Carr to serve the large German and Irish immigrant community residing in the northern sections of the city. The May riots (May 6-8, 1844) began during a confrontation between Irish-Catholics and participants of an American Nativist Party rally held in the Irish neighborhood of Kensington., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 666, Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited.
- Date
- 1844
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W322 [P.2182]
- Title
- The terrible conflagration at Ninth and Washington Streets, Philadelphia On the morning of Wednesday February 8th 1865
- Description
- Disaster print showing the scene at the "disastrous conflagration commenced in the storage yard [of Blackburn & Co.] at Ninth & Washington Street" in the early morning hours of February 8, 1865. In the foreground, displaced and panicked residents of all ages attired in their night clothes, many holding their few possessions, run down and gather on the snowy streets. Amongst the commotion, police officers assist residents with their possessions (trunks, bedding, and cookware) and direct firefighters toward the blaze and burnt ruins of and surrounding the coal yard. The firefighters transport a ladder, hoses, and hose carriage toward the burning buildings as other volunteers rush to smother a man on fire and comfort a fleeing girl. Others depicted at the scene include two men laying an unconscious man attired in a nightshirt on the ground; a man and woman clutching their children to their chests; and a woman falling and dropping her baby in her flight as a dog runs past them. In the background, a small number of survivors and firefighters carrying victims, run down the 1100 block of Ninth Street that is lined with burning and destroyed buildings. Across from the coal yard, presumably the proprietor, James McManus, holds a bundle, and prepares to exit the doorway of the "Lager Beer Saloon" on the northeast corner of Washington Avenue and Ninth Street. Furniture covers the sidewalk in front of his establishment, the upper floors visibly on fire., Also contains several lines of text explicating the economic and human cost of the fire, including "loss of property" at "$400, 000," the "property destroyed" at about "one hundred structures," and the "List of Dead and Missing - Mrs. Barbara Ware, aged 43 years. Miss Annie Ware, 23 years._Emma Ware, 20 year._Helen Ware, 13 years._Isabella Ware, 4 years._Rebecca Ware._Albert Ware, 17 years._Clayton Ware, 10 years._The Scott Family is missing._Samuel McMenamin Fleetwood". A barrel of coal oil ignited through arson stored at Blackburn & Co. started the blaze shortly after 2 A.M. The fire destroyed the coal yard, which then caused a stream of burning oil to flow down Washington Avenue and Ninth Street that spread the fire to neighboring blocks of Federal and Ellsworth streets., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 746, Wainwright retrospective conversion project, edited., Reaccessioned as P.2215., Historical Society of Pennsylvania:, Fire described in the Philadelphia Inquirer, February 9, 1865, p. 8.
- Date
- 1865
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *W397 [6549.F]
- Title
- High Street and market shambles
- Description
- View looking east from above Third and High (Market) streets showing the High Street Prison built circa 1723 and the nearby old market stalls during the colonial era. Shows white men in colonial attire walking on the sidewalks and street. In the right of the image, an African American man walks beside a white man. Two African American men are depicted in a stockade and attached to a whipping post near the jail. The man attached to the whipping post is attired in a white cloth that is tied around his waist. The prison operated until the early 1770s when replaced by the Walnut Street Prison. The market shambles were replaced by the permanent Jersey Market circa 1765., Plate published in John F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia...(Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1830), opp. p. 301., Title from item., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 354, Gift of James Rush., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., RVCDC, Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphiana - Streets - High (2 copies)
- Creator
- Breton, William L., artist
- Date
- [1830]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department BW - Markets [9245.Q.21]

