1903, December 30: Iroquois Theater Fire

Chicago's most deadly fire occurred less than a month after the opening of the new, supposedly fireproof Iroquois Theater at 24-28 W. Randolph. It was standing room only for a holiday matinee of the popular musical "Mr. Blue Beard, Jr." Of the 1,900 people in the audience, mostly women and children, 603 perished. Among the 500 performers and backstage personnel, only the tightrope artist caught high above the stage died.

Due to a long history of theater fires in the U.S. and Europe, by 1903 fire precautions were well developed, but not followed by the Iroquois Theater management. The primary danger came from the stage scenery consisting of many canvas backdrops painted with highly flammable oil paints and suspended in midair close to a large number of hot lights. In a number of fatal fires, including the Iroquois the scenery caught fire, then quickly reached almost explosive proportions.

Standard precautions which had functioned well in other localities included firemen stationed near the stage with fire extinguishers, hoses and pikes for pulling down scenery. In case of fire, an asbestos or iron curtain would drop down cutting the audience off from the stage and its burning scenery. Adequate exits and trained ushers would prevent deaths from panic.

Neglect of all of these factors contributed to the huge death toll in the Iroquois Theater fire. At 3:15 p.m. a hot light started flames crackling up a velvet curtain. The on-duty fireman was equipped only with two tubes of patent powder called Kilfyres. Sprinkling these on the fire proved totally ineffective. The theater lacked fire hoses, extinguishers or any other means of fighting fires above the fireman's head.

The asbestos fire curtain got stuck before it reached the full down position due either to projecting lamps or cheap wooden tracks. This left a gap which exposed the audience to flame and smoke. The curtain was apparently instantly consumed in the fire anyway. Testimony revealed that the curtain was probably not made of a fire proof material. Curtain reinforcements as well as the tracks in which it rode were cheaply constructed of wood leading to probable failure in a fire. The inexperienced stage crew was slow to pull down the curtain, not able to unjam it, and as at least one witness testified, may have pulled down a scenery curtain, instead of the ineffectual fire curtain.

As the fire started the orchestra played on, and the leading actor urged people to remain seated. Although this no doubt prevented some deaths from panic, those who heeded his advice perished in the explosive smoke and flames. A number of bodies were found still seated. The theater management had added iron gates over many of the exit doors. Some of the gates were locked, others were unlocked but opening them required operation of a small lever of a type unfamiliar to most theater patrons. Other doors opened inwards. The theater had had no fire drills so ushers and theater personnel neither opened the doors, nor directed people to safe exits. Many people were trapped behind unopened doors. The time it took to open other doors added to the fatal panic as it forced almost everyone to use the main exits.

Even though it was outside the fire area, trampled bodies were piled ten high in the stairwell area where exits from the balcony met the exit from the main floor. More fatalities occurred when fire broke out underneath an alley fire escape. People above the fire jumped. The first to jump died as they hit the hard pavement. Later jumpers landed on the bodies and survived. The same scenario happened as patrons jumped from the balcony to the main floor of the theater. All injuries occurred within 15 minutes of the start of the fire, which was put out by the fire department within half an hour.

The largely undamaged building reopened less than a year later and operated as the Colonial Theater until it was torn down in 1925.

Last Updated: June 09, 1999