In January, 1908, a major fire occurred in Boyertown, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Rhoads’ Opera House was gutted and of the more than 400 persons who had packed the theatre to hear the story of the Scottish Reformation, 170 lost their lives. The news quickly traveled around the world. It was one of the worst disasters in Pennsylvania history.
The photo above is from a post card (later colorized) and depicts the ruins several days after the fire and after the burned & charred bodies had been removed.
The Lykens Standard reported on the fire in its January 17, 1908 edition:
THE BOYERTOWN HORROR
On Monday night while the Scottish Reformation was being rendered in the Boyertown, Berks County, Opera House, for the benefit of St. John’s Lutheran Sunday School of that place, a valve in the tube leading from the oxygen tank to the stereopticon lantern became loose causing a puffing and then a hiss. one of the performers raised the drop curtain from the floor of the stage to ascertain what caused the commotion and in doing so accidentally turned over the tin tank at the front of the stage to which were connected the ten coal oil foot lights. The oil flowed out on the floor and in a moment was on fire. The flames soon reached the flimsy drop curtain, which was burnt from its fastenings and fell into the oil soaked orchestra pit. The 420 men, women and children in the opera house, then bounded for the sole exit leading to the street, a steep stairway four feet wide. The exit became blocked and nearly all in the building were either burned or crushed to death, some managing to escape through the small exit at the rear of the stage and at the windows opening upon a fire escape. The 173 bodies have been recovered, only 59 of which could be identified. Mrs. Della E. Mayer, the lecturer, was among those killed. She is a sister of Mrs. Harriet E. Monroe, the authoress of the play, whose loss in paraphernalia, lantern views, etc., is $10,000, and than on the building, which was entirely gutted, is about the same.
Later reports differ as to the origin of the fire, the pianist claiming that a small coal oil lamp that he had used at the piano, and which he turned down and sat on the floor while the stereopticon pictures were being shown, was upset by one of the ushers. Another is that it was caused by the explosion of gas from the calcium gas tanks. The true cause, perhaps, will not be known until the coroner’s jury makes an investigation.
Below are some front pages of a Reading newspaper and some headlines from a Harrisburg newspaper.
Front page from the Reading Times, January 14, 1908:
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Headline from the Harrisburg Daily Independent, January 14, 1908:
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Front page from the Reading Times, January 15, 1908:
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Headline from the Harrisburg Daily Independent, January 15, 1908:
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.