Trapman Street Hospital

Description:

Photograph showing the damage from the earthquake that occurred on August 31, 1886 to the old hospital located at 3 Trapman Street (Charleston City Directories use the spelling of "Trapmann" until the 1890 directory). The label of "Old Hospital" is visible in the front, lower left corner, with "Trapman Street" handwritten at the bottom. Also on reverse is handwritten, "See Cook #189" referring to the back of "Series 2" of Cook's "Earthquake Views of Charleston and Vicinity" in which the caption reads, "Ruins of Colored Hospital." The Trapman Street Hospital was first organized during the Civil War for wounded Confederate soldiers eventually serving as a hospital for African Americans after 1865.

George LaGrange Cook was a well-known photographer in Charleston who photographed the destruction of the 1886 earthquake soon after it happened, producing a series of images titled "Cook's Earthquake Views of Charleston and Vicinity" that could be purchased as souvenirs.

• Title: Trapman Street Hospital
• Photographer: [Cook, George LaGrange, 1849-1919]
• Date: [1886]

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• Collection: Photograph Collection
• Object Name: Earthquake of 1886
• Object Id: MK 5615

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• Search Terms
  • African Americans
  • Destruction of property
  • Earthquakes
  • Hospitals