Date: Jan. 29, 1922
Deaths: 108
Injured: 133
In attendance: 300
Lesson learned: Don't use poor building materials.
For info go to: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/theater-collapses-in-washington-dc
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theatretalks/5051336373/
After two days of blizzard conditions in Washington D.C. more than two feet of snow was dumped on the city. Businesses were closed for those couple days until Jan 29, 1922. After being cooped up inside people wanted to go out for entertainment.
At the Knickerbocker theater a number of 300 people arrived for a show. About half way through the production the roof collapsed on top of the audience. Snow, steel and metal came down, burying the people below. 108 people were killed and even more were injured. All through the night rescue operations were in action, finding and digging people out from the rubble.
It was later determined that the building failed due to poor construction materials.
Of the deaths one man was a congressman. In a single family, five were killed (claims history.com.)
Sad to think that these people just went out to have a good time, and lost their lives. I cannot even imagine how the owners must have felt about this. Horrible!
ReplyDeleteThat's so sad! Who would think that going to the theater could lead to death! :(
ReplyDelete