The 1903 Iroquois Theater Fire - This Nation's Deadliest Single Building Blaze

By Prinalgin, Associated Content

The deadliest single building fire in American history occurred on December 30th, 1903 at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago. The Iroquois Theater had been open for only five weeks when it caught fire during a crowded holiday performance, resulting in the demise of 602 people. Supposedly "fireproof", the Iroquois Theater was anything but, and despite the precautions taken to prevent a tragedy, the building burned down, taking all those people to their death. To this the day, an area behind the long-since demolished and rebuilt Iroquois Theater is avoided, said to be haunted by those who perished in this catastrophe.

The Iroquois was Chicago's newest and most polished theater, built by architect Benjamin Marshall, who had studied many fires over the years and had tried to make this particular building as safe as possible. The Iroquois was designed in the image of a famous Paris opera house, and the four-story structure contained elaborates stained glass windows and polished wood. The lobby of the Iroquois had a sixty-foot high ceiling and marble walls, and Marshall had put in as many as twenty-five exits that supposedly would allow a capacity crowd to escape any problems in less than five minutes. A curtain made of asbestos was supposed to be present, one that could be lowered from above the stage to protect the audience in case of a fire that started there.

But common sense did not prevail when it came to the seats in the Iroquois Theater, as they were made of wood and stuffed with straw, making them extremely flammable. The fire equipment that was supposed to be installed never did make it into the Iroquois, which had no fire alarms at all. In the haste to get the theater open, many safety precautions were simply overlooked, and the combination would prove disastrous. December 30th was a very cold day in the Windy City, and the Iroquois was packed for a showing of the popular comedy "Mr. Bluebeard". Since it was the Christmas break, there were over 2,000 people in attendance, many of them children, with another 400 actors and stagehands behind the scenes. One of those actors was the famous vaudeville performer Eddie Foy.

At around twenty after three during the afternoon one of the many suspended curtains that were used for scenery, painted with volatile oil paints, caught fire from one of the hot stage lights and the flames began to spread upwards. The audience thought that this was somehow part of the show for a while, and Foy came flying out of his make-up room and urged the crowd to be calm, reminding them time and again that the Iroquois was fireproof. The orchestra even began playing, and the crowd seemed to feel there was no threat, until a set that was ablaze came thundering down onto the stage. At this point Foy called for the asbestos curtain to be lowered to protect the audience until the fire could be controlled, but the devise failed to work properly, leaving a gap of some twenty feet between the bottom of the curtain and the stage for the fire to come through.

The actors and stagehands then panicked and headed for the rear exits as the audience finally figured out, too late, that the fire was unstoppable. As the flames spread, those backstage opened the rear doors to escape, and the air that rushed in turned the fire into an inferno. The delirious mass of people headed for any door that they could find, trampling one another and shoving and pushing in frightened hysteria. But the exit doors opened inward, and the crush of bodies against the people trying to open them did not allow them to do so. Also, many of the side doors were locked. The Iroquois was plunged into darkness as the lights went out, and the fire, fueled by the air coming in from the rear doors, exploded throughout the main auditorium.

When the fire company arrived, everything appeared normal, as there was no smoke coming out of the Iroquois Theater at first. But when they went into the building, they could not open the doors because of the bodies that were stacked against them. The death toll in the upper balconies was tremendous, as the fire escape supposedly leading down to the street a hundred feet below was found to be non-existent, leaving some to jump or fall to their death from the great height. As many as 150 people met their fate in this manner.

The official death toll for the Iroquois Theater fire was 602, with 212 of them children. An investigation found that there were no proper vents for smoke to go in case of a fire, as they were unfinished before the Iroquois had opened and had been covered to keep out the rain and snow, meaning that many of the victims had died of smoke inhalation. In addition, the Iroquois management had decided that sprinklers were too "unsightly" and therefore they did not have any put in. The asbestos curtain that was supposed to save lives was actually made of cotton, and had no chance to prevent any fire from spreading. To keep people from trying to see a show for free, the Iroquois brass had a policy of securing the side doors and doors leading to the stairways with padlocks or iron panels, with escape through these portals virtually impossible.

This investigation found that city and fire department officials were well aware of all of these egregious fire code violations, but had overlooked them in exchange for free theater passes! Despite a grand jury indicting the Iroquois Theater's owners, fire officials, and the mayor himself, no criminal charges were ever filed. The victim's families were never awarded a single penny, as the Iroquois Theater Company filed for bankruptcy. The actual building, which had only its interior gutted by the fire, was repaired and it re-opened as a theater before being torn down in 1924. The original façade of the Iroquois Theater is all that remained, and another building was constructed using it. Now what used to be the Iroquois Theater is part of the Civic Tour Building, but people make a point to steer clear of one of the narrow passageways that runs behind it? For this is where dozens fell to their death in an attempt to escape the fire, and it is said they haunt the alleyway to this day.

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