This collection of photo galleries presents all of the images in our collection of the Eighth Ward at the start of the twentieth century. Click on an image below to tour the Old Eighth.

The Lemer Collection, 1911-1917 (PSA 17.522)

The images below are JPEG copies of high-resolution scans of photographs at the Pennsylvania State Archives. They belong to a collection in the Records of the Land Office, Land Office Map Collection series (RG 17.522), which photographer John D. Lemer captured to facilitate the work of the Capitol Park Extension Commission. Most date to the fall of 1911, immediately before demolition, but some clearly reflect a time after buildings, and even entire blocks, had begun to come down (1912-1917).