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Image / Collapsed Electric Light Tower

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Title
Collapsed Electric Light Tower
Contributor
Gordon, John C. (photographer) (Creator)
Contributing Institution
San José State University, Special Collections and Archives
Collection
John C. Gordon Photographic Collection
Rights Information
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Description
The San Jose Electric Light Tower shortly after its collapse. Several people with umbrellas are depicted viewing the wreckage while walking on the sidewalk in the rain.
Handwritten on verso of photograph: "4/1915. The tower after it had blown down." The Electric Light Tower stood at the intersection of Market Street and Santa Clara Street. J. J. Owen, newspaper publisher, had the tower built in 1881. It stood 237-feet tall and was lighted on December 13, 1881. The tower was damaged by a windstorm in February 1915 and finally collapsed in a storm on December 3, 1915 at 11:55 a.m.
A similar image is on SVHO from History San Jose (they list creator as unknown). HSJ's image was taken one hour after the collapse.
Scanned with Microtek Scanmaker 1000XL Pro; as a 600 dpi TIFF image in 8-bit Grayscale. Auto Level image processing applied and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop CS3.
Type
image
Format
image/jpeg
6 x 8 in.
Identifier
islandora:78_1637
filename: jcg_disasters_004
islandora: 78_1637
Subject
Urban life
Disasters
Electric power failures
Electricity
Towers
Place
San Jose
California
Relation
John C. Gordon Photograph Collection

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