1915subwayfire

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. From this source. www.shorpy.com/node/1805

More notes under:

view from across the street (see notes):

See: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00E12F73F5A15738... 250,000 in Tie-up at Morning Rush Hour; Affects Whole City Short Circuit Starts Fire Three Packed Trains Stalled at 55th St. and Broadway Near Flames New York Times January 7, 1915 The worst accident in the history of the New York subways occurred yesterday morning, when one woman was killed and 210 persons weer overcome by smoke or trampled upon. Three crowded downtown trains weer stalled at 8:02 o'clock between the Columbus Circle and Fiftieth Street station by a short circuit which set fire to the insulation of electric wires and filled the tunnel with a dense acrid smoke.

Most of the buildings are now gone, with the exception of the Woodward (now Dream) Hotel, but the access grates to the subway (the only exit for the 250 trapped passengers) are still there. maps.google.com/maps?q=1261+broadway+new+york&hl=en&a...

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Note that the person who wrote on the negative has forgotten that the calendar changed from 1914 to 1915.