Saturday, April 4, 2015

Chicago Board of Trade -- April 4, 1903


The above photograph was taken at the first Board of Trade to stand at the foot of La Salle Street and shows scores of traders in action.  It was taken on this date, April 4, 1903.

The largest amount of flash powder ever used was employed in the completion of the photograph.  George R. Lawrence, the photographer, used a dozen pounds of the power in capturing the members of the board of trade working in the pits. 

According to The Chicago Tribune the powder was distributed in 360 lights that hung from the balcony rails, “discharged simultaneously by electricity.”

Mr. Lawrence was busy that week.  He had earlier taken a photograph of 65 celebrants at a banquet held in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt at the Auditorium Annex.  Later in the week he stood atop a one hundred foot tower in the Chicago stockyards to take a picture of the action on the southwest side of the city.