On the morning of September 22, 1915, the very ground beneath New York City gave way.

During construction of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue subway line, a powerful dynamite blast ruptured the temporary wooden supports beneath Seventh Avenue between West 23rd and 25th Streets. In seconds, the street collapsed into a vast excavation pit more than thirty feet deep, swallowing vehicles, workers, and a passing trolley during the height of the morning rush.

This extraordinary Fine Art Print - created from an original large-format glass camera negative—captures the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Crowds line the shattered edge of Seventh Avenue as rescuers descend ladders into a chaotic landscape of splintered timbers, twisted beams, and shattered infrastructure. Police, construction workers, and civilians search the wreckage while onlookers stare down into the chasm that split the city open.

At least seven people were killed and many more injured. The explosion and collapse exposed the immense risks of early twentieth-century subway construction and shocked New Yorkers who had come to trust the rapidly expanding underground transit system.

Rare images like this were once published in contemporary newspapers and engineering journals, but surviving original negatives are exceptionally scarce. This image stands as a stark visual record of urban ambition colliding with human cost—an unfiltered moment when progress literally fractured the streets of Manhattan.