Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
On January 6, 1915, an electrical short in a manhole started a fire that filled the subway line under Broadway at West 55th Street with smoke, resulting in chaos for a quarter-million commuters. The New York Times reported that one person, Ella Grady, was killed. We note that photographer George Grantham Bain, like many of us writing checks just after January 1, was a year off in dating this photo. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
Amazing how all of the rubber neckers stand on the partially removed grates peering down into the subway.
An interesting contrast would be the mid 2007 steam line blow out near Grand Central where half of the emergency responders were dealing with crowd control.
Which is now the Dream Hotel. It used to have a sister building across from it on 55th Street, long gone.
I was in a 1990 subway fire. Water leaked onto a transformer causing an explosion that sent thick brown smoke throughout the train. Nothing like feeling like you and your 50+ train-mates are going to die in a hole.
… (with the arches) seems to be the only building in this photo or the other one still extant. It's visible in Google Street View here.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5