Rhoads Opera House Fire - Boyertown, PA - Famous Fires on Waymarking.com

Not your typical idea of an opera house, the Boyertown "Opera House" occupied the second floor of a three story commercial building which also housed a bank on its first floor, the opera house and offices on the second floor and meeting rooms on the third floor. The Opera House was not the only use for the area which was actually an auditorium shared with many other agencies for events such as graduations, lectures and business meetings.

On January 13, 1908, nearly 400 people attended the Boyertown Opera House to see the church sponsored play, "The Scottish Reformation". During the second intermission, tragedy struck. As the crowd attempted to escape the burning building, many were trapped inside due to the fact that there was only one entrance to the second floor opera hall. That entrance was actually a double door but one side was chained shut. Crowds pushed against each other as those at the beginning of the escape attempted to open the only door, one which swung inward, an almost impossible task with the surging crowds. Many people, realizing that they would not escape through the door, jumped out of the second floor windows. One firefighter was also killed when he was run over by the pump truck. It took one hour to kill 171 people.

A few days after this fire, there was another fire in Scranton, PA, when employees were trapped without an escape route and four people were killed. These unfortunate incidents were some that produced positive results as they inspired the Pennsylvania legislature. From Wikipedia, (visit link) :
"The incident spurred the Pennsylvania legislature into passing new legislative standards for doors, landings, lighting, curtains, fire extinguishers, aisles, and marked exits. All doors were required to open outward and remain unlocked. Pennsylvania governor Edwin Stuart signed Pennsylvania’s first fire law on May 3, 1909."

Although the original Rhoads building burnt down, it was rebuilt looking much like the original building. It still stands on the corner of Philadelphia and Washington Streets in Boyertown bearing a plaque stating it was the site of this terrible fire.

Type of Structure: Private Building Fire Date: 01/13/1908 Structure status: Plaque Cause of Fire: From the ExplorePA website http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-147 : "It was Harry Fisher, an inexperienced projectionist, who had initially sparked the disaster when he turned the wrong knob on the projector, which emitted gas into the air. The hissing noise and the smell of gas soon alarmed the theatergoers, some of whom rushed towards the exit. When several of the actors peaked behind the muslin stage curtain to see what was causing the commotion, someone knocked over a kerosene lamp on the piano, which spilled flaming oil onto the front of the stage. The fire soon reached the kerosene tank that fueled the footlights, then set the curtain ablaze, which spread the fire to the wooden ceiling and the wainscoting along the wall." Documentation of the fire: [Web Link] Other: Not listed Construction Date: Not listed

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