Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1903: <\/strong>The matinee performance of \u201cMr. Bluebeard\u201d<\/a> at Chicago\u2019s Iroquois Theatre, on Randolph Street between State and Dearborn streets, was packed with an estimated 2,000 schoolchildren and families.<\/p>\n The dazzling Iroquois<\/a> was hastily opened Nov. 23, 1903. Though the \u201cfinest, handsomest, and best equipped\u201d theater bragged about its 35 exits, it did not have a sprinkler system, telephone, fire alarm or exit signs. The crowd included a 26-piece orchestra, a cast and crew of 400, and spectators who jammed the balconies and set up camp chairs in the aisles.<\/p>\n The second act had just begun when an arc light near the stage ignited a curtain.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first we knew of the fire, was when we saw a tongue of fire<\/a>, which crept slowly along the red velvet curtain,\u201d survivor Charlotte Plamondon told the Tribune. \u201cAs the fire followed the velvet curtain at the top of the stage I could see little girls and boys in the audience point to it as if it were a part of the play.\u201d<\/p>\n As flame licked at the fabric and smoke curled toward the ceiling, the overcapacity crowd of more than 1,800 panicked, rushing for the exits and jammed against doors that opened inward. Some exits were locked; others were nearly impossible to open.<\/p>\n Firefighters put out the fire in 30 minutes, but not before it became the worst of its kind in American history with 602 dead \u2014 more than twice the toll of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.<\/p>\n Theatergoers from 13 states were killed in the disaster, which made headlines worldwide, according to Anthony P. Hatch<\/a>, author of the 2003 book \u201cTinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903.\u201d<\/p>\n Flashback: From the Iroquois Theatre tragedy to the 1934 Stock Yards blaze, Chicago\u2019s history is punctuated with devastating fires.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n News accounts were chilling. In a nearby restaurant used to house the dead and dying, \u201cBodies were everywhere<\/a> \u2014 piled along the walls, laid across tables, and flung down here and there \u2014 some charred beyond recognition, some only scorched, and others black from suffocation; some crushed in the rush of the panic,\u201d wrote Tribune reporter Arthur Sears Henning.<\/p>\n The paper\u2019s front page the next day was filled with a list of names of the dead.<\/p>\n Chicago Tribune<\/p>\n The Dec. 31, 1903, front page of the Chicago Tribune after the fire at the Iroquois Theatre.<\/p>\n Though only one victim was buried at Montrose Cemetery<\/a>, its owner Andrew Kircher established a monument<\/a> there.<\/p>\n The Iroquois Theatre fire resulted in reforms<\/a> such as fireproof scenery and stage curtains, illuminated exits and doors that open outward. It also inspired the invention of the exit-door \u201cpanic bar,\u201d which still is in use today, and the UL Label Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another theater, the James A. Nederlander Theatre (formerly the Oriental Theatre), opened on the site in 1926<\/a>.<\/p>\n Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\n
![\"Many](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-IROQUOIS-THEATRE-FIRE-1903-01_2887a1.jpg\")
Many of those who could escape the fire at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago on Dec. 30, 1903, found themselves navigating fire escapes, as this illustration published on Dec. 31, 1903, in the Tribune shows. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-IROQUOIS-THEATRE-FIRE-1903-01.jpg\")
A fire that killed more than 600 people inside the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago on Dec. 30, 1903, started when an arc light set part of a curtain above the stage ablaze. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CTC-L-CTHIST-Iroquois-theater-printpage-2_229052287.jpg\")
The Tribune told of the devastating fire at the Iroquois Theatre, published the day after on Dec. 31, 1903, where more than 600 people died. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/L444GFOVEBGVZMAUFZW5AMP664.png\")
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