East side of Greenwood from Archer, shortly after the burning

East side of Greenwood from Archer, shortly after the burning

This image depicts the east side of Greenwood Ave. Details are sufficient to indicate that this is fairly early after the burning, likely the evening of 1 June. The blurred figures show a lengthy shutter speed was used, suggesting a low ambient light level.

The key to the numbers was in the Chicago Defender article:

1. The ruins of the Stradford Hotel, owned by J.B. Stradford, valued at $65,000, containing 66 rooms.
2. Dreamland Theater, owned by Wesley Williams. [Note that the Dreamland sign is still hanging, indicating the early time period of the photograph].
3. Gist grocery store.
4. Ed Howard's barber shop.
5. Woods building, occupied by the Earl real estate co. [The article implies that the safe was from the real estate company.  It is also possible, and has been suggested elsewhere, that the safe had been in Dr. Bridgewater's office, also in the Woods Building, where it had been used as a bank.  Also in the Woods Building were the new offices of the Oklahoma Sun newspaper, in the space formerly occupied by the Tulsa Star; Gentry's real estate; Mary Parrish's school; and two other physicians.]

This photo is a very poor quality reproduction from a microfilmed copy of the Chicago Defender.

Unknown photographer

Chicago Defender, 1921 June 11

1921 June [1]

This item was published in 1921 and therefore is in the Public Domain