13 Nov “all gone but wife, children, and energy.”
early photographic print (note hand-applied retouching) made from william shaw’s original glass negative of w.d. kerfoot realty company building (october 1871-june 1872), located at 89 west washington street, chicago, il.
the 12 by 16 foot “shanty of boards” was said to be the first “building” erected in the burnt district (completed around noon on the 9th of october) after the great chicago of 1871.
it stood in the middle of the street until october 19th, when the city’s board of public works required kerfoot to move his “business block” within the street line after it was determined that the ruins had sufficiently cooled.
the board to the right of entrance door was a used for posting notices of removals and served as makeshift city directory of sorts.
