1891 Cabinet Card Lumber Exchange Building Fire, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jacoby For Sale

1891 Cabinet Card Lumber Exchange Building Fire, Minneapolis, Minnesota by Charles Jacoby

Description
Photographer_________Charles Jacoby, MinneapolisTitle:Lumber Exchange Building FireDate:1891Medium:Imperial Cabinet Card with printed mountSize of Image:naSize of Mount:8 x 5 inchesCondition:Medium to light warm tonal image, good detail, overall shows aging and light soiling, edges/corners rubbed/bumped, chip to bottom right cornerOther:

Uncommon cabinet photograph of the Minneapolis Lumber Exhange Building fire which occured on February 26, 1891. The view appears to have been take at night showing some extensive firefighting equipment and crowds of onlookers. At the right of the image is a pharmacy called Rufus H. Lane Palace Drug Store. Given the time of year, quite a bit of ice has accumulated on the telephone pole and wires at the base of the building. Overall, a remarkable photograph for the era given the circumstances.

The significance of this particular fire is multi-leveled in importance. First, the Lumber Exchange Building was the tallest and most expensive structure in Minnesota when the 10 floor Richardson Romanesque Style skyscraper was completed in 1887. Second, at that time there were many concerns regarding fires in larger buildings so a particularly new method of building known as semi-fireproof was employed. Although not completely fireproof, the system was called \"slow burning.\" By 1890, an additional two floors were added at the top of the Lumbar building using what was considered at the time \"fireproof\" construction methods. Ironically, this somewhat happenstance of combined construction methods became a test case for the comparative efficiency of both methods when fire engulfed the building in 1891. For the most part, the conclusion was that the fireproof section survived and the semi-fireproof section was quite damaged. An excellent, very complete article written about this moment in fireproof construction was written by Sara E. Wermiel titled, The Minneapolis Lumber Exchange Fire of 1891 and Fire-Resisting Construction which can be found online.

Photographer Charles L. Jacoby made some of the few known views of this historic fire some of which can be found on the Minnesota Historical Society site. To date, however, we have not found this particular overall view reproduced or residing in an archive to our knowledge. Jacoby was the son of early Minneapolis photographer William H. Jacoby who was considered one of the best in Minnesota from the 1860s until he turned his studio over to Charles in 1888.

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