Iroquois Theater Fire Memorial - Montrose Cemetery, Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 58.810 W 087° 43.817
16T E 439500 N 4647832
Diamond shaped stone near cemetery entrance commemorating the 600 victims of Chicago's Iroquois Theater Fire on December 30, 1903.
Waymark Code: WMD81X
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2011
Views: 2
Inscription
Sacred
to the memory of
600 people who perished
in the Iroquois Theater Fire
Dec. 30, 1903. Erected by the
Iroquois Memorial
Association
1908
From the cemetery's website http://www.montrosecemetery.com/History.html
"Montrose Cemetery was founded by Andrew Kircher in 1902. Today, it is still owned and operated by his descendants. At the turn of the century, Mr. Kircher had opened a funeral home in the heart of Chicago's German Town Community. Then in 1902, he decided to enter the Cemetery business by buying and developing what was then prairie land. This property was well on the outskirts of Chicago. His foresight and pioneer spirit proved Mr. Kircher to be a man of vision. The Landscape Gardener chosen to design the grounds at Montrose was O.C. Simonds & Co. They had been established as the best and most respected in the industry.
On December 30, 1903, fire swept through the brand new Iroquois Theater at Randolph and Dearborn, in Chicago. There were 602 casualties. Only one was buried at Montrose, a small girl. Five years later, when Mr. Kircher realized that no memorial had been erected to memorialize the tragedy, he took it upon himself to do so. Today, it is one of the most visited monuments at Montrose Cemetery."
Montrose Cemetery is located at 5400 N. Pulaski. The Iroquois Theater Fire took place in downtown Chicago, many miles southeast from this location.