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The Ruins at Johnstown, Pa., after the flood, May 31, 1889 – Antique Wall Art

The Ruins at Johnstown, Pa., after the flood, May 31, 1889, [1889] — historic photograph
The Ruins at Johnstown, Pa., after the flood, May 31, 1889, [1889]. Historic photograph from the Johnstown Flood collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: The Ruins at Johnstown, Pa., after the flood, May 31, 1889, preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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The Ruins at Johnstown, Pa., after the flood, May 31, 1889

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Wreckage piled against the bridges of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is the focus of this view, which shows the aftermath rather than the water itself. On the afternoon of May 31, 1889, the failure of the South Fork dam upstream sent a wall of water down the Conemaugh Valley, and the town's bridges became traps where houses, rail cars and timber gathered in heaps. The Philadelphia firm Rothengatter & Dillon issued the print as number 10 in a series of views of the devastation, which killed more than 2,000 people. The catalog dates it only to 1889, but the scene captures the debris-choked town that drew visitors and reporters to the valley in the weeks after the flood.

Created / published[1889]
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1880-1890.
NotesCopyright by Rothengatter & Dillon, Phila., Pa. No. 10.
SubjectsBridges--Pennsylvania--Johnstown--1880-1890. Floods--Pennsylvania--Johnstown--1880-1890.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,068 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-165775

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