Fires, Floods, Disasters

Washington, D.C. "Storm damage. Between 1913 and 1918." Somewhere under all this rubble, I suspect, is a narrative waiting to be unearthed by a Shorpy history detective. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1910. "Engine Company No. 15." Ten firemen and their firedog. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

October 23, 1915. Washington, D.C. "Bedell fire, Seventh & D streets." Bedell Manufacturing made mattresses. Three years after a fire in 1912, R.P. Andrews Paper has vacated its D Street premises, but the block still seems unusually combustible. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

May 24, 1912. "R.P. Andrews fire, 628 D Street N.W." Washington Post headline: "Mysterious Fire in R.P. Andrews Warehouse Does $75,000 Damage." The item goes on to say that the cause was thought to have been "wires connected with the electric elevator." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

December 28, 1925. "G.J. Mueller Fire." A five-alarm fire at George J. Mueller Candy Co. in Chinatown at 336 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., in view of the Capitol. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C. "Fire at Thomas Somerville plant, July 20, 1926." 312 13th Street N.W. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

"Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Treasury Department. Fire, February 21, 1916, from spontaneous combustion." Harris & Ewing. View full size.