Castner Scrapbook v.19, Disasters, Criminal Prisons 1, page 26
Historical Images of Philadelphia Castner Scrapbook Collection
Item Info
Historic Street Address: 15th & Chestnut Streets
Media Type: Scrapbooks
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
Item 1, top left: Caption reads, " Photograph, Copyright, 1903, by Hastings & Miller, New York. The Niagara of a nightmade by six Fire-engines and the Water-tower during a Tenement fire in Allen Street." The fire began in a basement restaurant on 105 Allen Street, on March 14, 1903, and quickly engulfed the whole building. Due to cold temperatures, the building was covered in ice from the firehoses. More than 20 residents died in the blaze. Reproduction of a photograph by Hastings & Miller, for an unidentified publication, 12 x 11 cm, 1903.
Item 2, top right: Slip ballad (early sheet music) for the song "Sad Times, The Burning of the Steamboat New Jersey," printed in 1856 by Johnson's Cheap Card and Job Printing, Philadelphia. The lyrics by Ned Buntline were set to the tune of "Hard Times Come Again No More." This song was written to commemorate the tragic fire on March 15, 1856, aboard the Steamboat New Jersey, on the Delaware River, between Philadelphia and Camden, NJ. Defective boilers and a fireplace were blamed for the fire, which destroyed the boat and killed 62 people. Printed slip ballad, 11.5 x 22.5 cm, 1856.
Items 3 and 4, bottom left: Two images of the aftermath of a blizzard in Philadelphia, in February 1899. Called the Great Blizzard of 1899, the Snow King Blizzard, and the Great Arctic Outbreak of 1899, the storm affected most of the United States, and posted historic snowfalls and record low temperatures across the country. According to a 2024 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, it still ranks in the top ten of biggest snowfalls in Philadelphia history, having dropped almost 19 inches of snow from February 12-14. The upper image shows a section of Broad Street after being plowed; the lower shows active plowing at 15th & Chestnut Streets. Reproductions of photographs by Dickenson Sargent Bell, for an unidentified publication, both measuring 10.25 x 8.5 cm, 1899.
Creation Year: 1845
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-73.990735
Geocode Latitude:40.719056
Call Number: A917.481 P536 v.19
Creator Name: Castner, Samuel, Jr., 1843-1929 - Compiler
Dickenson Sargent Bell - Photographer
Hastings & Miller, New York - Photographer
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