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New York circa 1906. "Drexel Building -- Offices of J.P. Morgan & Co., Wall and Broad Streets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The hat business thrives.
I hope it wasn't quite this bad on September 16, 1920, but it likely was. A wagon is just about in the exact same spot in this photo as the one carrying the bomb.
The Drexel building was 33 years old when the 1906 photograph was taken. Designed by Arthur D. Gilman in the French Second Empire style, the six-story building was clad in white Vermont marble. The interior was equally impressive with black walnut and mahogany paneling, marble floors, and all the latest conveniences such as elevators, steam heat, and being fireproof. The owner, Anthony Drexel Jr. of the Drexel banking firm, could well afford it. He had paid a record $4.5 million in today's money in gold for this plot at the southeast corner of Wall and Broad Streets.
Anthony Drexel Jr. died in 1893. In 1912, six years after this photo was taken, Drexel's business partner, J. Pierpont Morgan, formed a corporation to purchase the property from Drexel's heirs. Morgan intended to demolish this building and replace it. This was done even though Morgan died in 1913.
A more detailed history is here.
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