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Title: [Broad Street Station fire, Philadelphia, June 1923]
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., 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.
Date: [June 1923]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - transportation [P.8683.13]

Title: Pennsylvania Rail Road Co. connecting bridge at Girard Ave
Description: View of a construction crew working under a viaduct of the bridge to enlarge West River Drive. In the foreground, an African American man crew member lowers a hose into the ditch in which the crew of predominately African American men work. Most of the men sift through a large pile of dirt and rubble near a horse-drawn cart., Title from note on negative sleeve: Penn R.R. Co. connecting bridge at Girard Avenue., Inscribed on negative: 7314., Published in Harry Silcox's Philadelphia: the life of photographer William Nicholson Jennings, 1860-1946 (Philadelphia: Brighton Press, Inc., 1993), p. 85., Purchase 1994., 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.
Creator: Jennings, William Nicholson, 1860-1946, photographer
Date: August 29, 1912
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Jennings [P.9480.7314]

Title: [Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company tracks under construction to raise grade crossings, Ninth Street above Poplar Street in Philadelphia]
Description: View of fenced in railroad tracks under construction with a railroad construction crew in the distance. The project, to raise tracks above street level to prevent pedestrian casualties from Wayne Junction to Spring Garden Street, lasted from 1907 to 1911. Residences and businesses line the street. Inside the fence, pedestrians, including African Americans, look on from and traverse the makeshift dirt walkways. An African American woman looks on from a second story window, Negative inscribed: 10255; 3-7-10; 0-65., Title supplied by cataloger., Manuscript note on verso: Meyers STW 4 23 13., Forms part of: Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company Photograph Collection., Purchase 1989., 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.
Creator: Harrison, Edward, photographer
Date: March 7, 1910
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company [P.9260.420]

Title: [Broad Street Station fire, Philadelphia, June 12, 1923]
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., 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.
Date: [June 12, 1923]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department photo - unidentified - transportation - railroad [P.8683.9]

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