Lot 303
Lot 303
(STEREOS--PITTSBURGH RAILWAY RIOTS)
A group of 12 dramatic stereo views depicting the aftermath of the Pittsburgh Railway Riots of 1877.
Including jaw-dropping scenes of Pittsburgh in ruins: burned rail car wreckages and shells of buildings litter the landscape. Albumen prints, the images measuring approximately overall 3 5/8 x6½ inches (9.2x16.5 cm.), on cream mounts, nearly all with handwritten numbers and printed captions identifying the entire set, on mount verso; lightly soiled. 1877
[1,000/1,500]
Due to various economic hardships and an increasing level of dissatisfaction during the Long Depression, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 erupted after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages for a third time that year. The wage cuts and striking spread across the nation to New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Missouri, and Illinois, but were worst in Pittsburgh, escalating quickly into riots in which strikers burned 39 buildings, 120 locomotives, and over 1000 rail cars. Looting, ransacking, and pillaging ensued. An estimated 60 people were killed and between $4 and $7 million dollars of damage was sustained to the city and railroad.