Richmond Theatre fire

Last updated
Richmond Theatre fire
Benjamin Tanner - The Burning of the Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, 1811.jpg
Richmond, Virginia, theatre fire of 1811
DateDecember 26, 1811 (1811-12-26)
VenueRichmond Theatre
Location Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Coordinates 37°32′20″N77°25′48″W / 37.538902°N 77.429876°W / 37.538902; -77.429876
Type Fire
Deaths72

The Richmond Theatre fire occurred in Richmond, Virginia, United States, on Thursday, December 26, 1811. It devastated the Richmond Theatre, located on the north side of Broad Street between what is now Twelfth and College Streets. The fire killed 72 people, including Virginia's governor George William Smith, former U.S. senator Abraham B. Venable, and other government officials in what was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time. [1] The Monumental Church was erected on the site as a memorial to the fire. [2]

Contents

Background

The Richmond Theatre fire of 1811 was not the first fire to claim a theatre of that name in the city of Richmond. [3] An earlier Richmond Theatre was destroyed by fire on 23 January 1798. [4] That earlier theatre was originally known as Quesnay's Academy (short for its formal title Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences of the United States) and opened on October 10, 1786 in a performance given by the Old American Company of Comedians under the management of Lewis Hallam Jr. and John Henry. [5]

The Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences of the United States was founded by Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire. Quesnay, a Frenchman, had served as an officer in the American Revolutionary War, and he intended to create an American organization that mirrored that of France's French Academy of Sciences. [6] It operated for a brief period as both a theatre and school, ultimately ceasing operation by December 1787. [7] It was then remodeled and renamed the Richmond Theatre by theatre managers Thomas Wade West and John Bignall who operated it until the 1798 fire. [8] During their tenure, the theatre was host to the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 [9] because the building had a capacity of 1600 people, more than the temporary Virginia Capitol building had. [10]

The second Richmond Theatre was built through the advocacy of John Marshall. It was built on the same site as the first Richmond Theatre at what is now the intersection of 12th and Broad just north of Capitol Square. [3] There was an orchestra section, a first balcony, and an upper balcony, with narrow doorways. [11] It opened on January 25, 1806, and it is this theatre that was destroyed in the fire on December 26, 1811. [3]

Fire

The performance on the evening of December 26, 1811, was a benefit for Alexander Placide and his daughter. The program was a double billing: first, a play by Denis Diderot entitled The Father, or Family Feuds, and after it, a pantomime entitled Raymond and Agness, or The Bleeding Nun. The benefit originally had been scheduled for December 23, but was postponed due to the death of Eliza Poe (one of the company's players), Placide's own illness, and foul weather. [12] It being Christmas time and the last opening of the season, the auditorium on December 26 was packed with an excited audience of 598 people, [13] with 518 adults and 80 children to view the pantomime, which commenced immediately after the play was finished.

The fire started after the curtain fell following the first act of the pantomime, when the chandelier was lifted toward the ceiling with the flame still lit. The lamp became entangled in the cords used to lift the chandelier and it touched one of the items used in the front scenes, which caught fire. As soon as the boy worker who was operating the cords saw the flames, he fled the building. The flames rose up the scenery and spread in the fly gallery from one hanging scene to the other; there were 35 such hanging scenes which could be lowered. In addition to the hangings were also the borders that provided the outlines of buildings and skies, among other set pieces; these, too, caught fire sequentially. Pine planks (with shingles over them) fixed over rafters with no plastering and ceiling spread the flames, which fell from the ceiling and spread extremely rapidly. [14] [15] The impact of the fire was worsened because the stage curtain hid the initial flames from the audience. [11]

The theatre had multiple exits: a little known side-door was used by those in the orchestra and back stage while an upper balcony exit was a clear way out. [11] In the panic of the fire, many people were pushed and fell, and they were unable to escape. Many people jumped out of the windows of the theatre. Others who were assembled near the window were afraid to do so. The editor of the Richmond Standard , present at the scene, urged people to jump; he, with help from many others on the ground, then heroically saved the lives of many of those who chose to do so. [2]

Gilbert Hunt, who helped save numerous lives on the night of the fire, became the subject of a biography published to provide an income for him during his old age Gilbert Hunt, blacksmith.jpg
Gilbert Hunt, who helped save numerous lives on the night of the fire, became the subject of a biography published to provide an income for him during his old age

Also credited with heroism was Gilbert Hunt, a former slave who, having purchased his freedom, was working as a blacksmith at a shop near the theatre. Along with Dr. James McCaw, a physician who was attending the theatre that evening, Hunt was credited with saving close to a dozen people. McCaw would lower them from the burning second story, and Hunt would catch them. Hunt also saved McCaw, who jumped just as a burning section of wall was about to fall on him. [16] Today Hunt is memorialized by a historical marker on the site. [17] A book, entitled Gilbert Hunt, the City Blacksmith, later was published in his honor and to provide financial assistance for him in his old age. [18] It has been claimed that Revolutionary War hero Peter Francisco saved over thirty people from the theater during the fire, having been in attendance at the performance. [19] [20] [21] [22]

Victims

Of the 72 who died in the fire, 54 were women and 18 were men. [23] Among the victims were Virginia's sitting governor, George William Smith, and former U.S. Senator Abraham B. Venable; the governor had purportedly tried to save his child from the flames. [2] [12] Also killed were Benjamin Botts, of Dumfries, and his wife; Botts had made a name for himself as a member of the defense in Aaron Burr's 1807 trial for treason. [24] Their son, John Botts, became a U.S. congressman and prominent unionist during the American Civil War.

Dr. Robert Greenhow, son of Robert Greenhow and later the husband of noted Confederate spy Rose Greenhow, survived the fire along with his father; his mother was killed in the blaze. [25] [26] Another survivor was former U.S. Congressman John G. Jackson, then serving in the Virginia General Assembly. [27]

George Tucker, who became the University of Virginia's first Professor of Moral Philosophy, narrowly escaped with his life after being struck in the head by a timber which left a permanent scar. [28] In his autobiography, Tucker claimed to have saved several women from the conflagration. [29] Sarah Henry Campbell, daughter of Founding Father Patrick Henry, was rescued from the flames by Alexander Scott, and later became his wife. [30]

Many members of the upper echelons of Richmond society were in attendance on the night of the fire, and many were killed; among the dead were listed Pages, Nelsons, and Braxtons, all members of some of the First Families of Virginia. [16]

Aftermath

On December 27, 1811, the Common Council commissioned a Committee of Investigation, which absolved the Placide & Green Theater Company of responsibility and blamed the inferior design and construction of the theater building for the great loss of life. [31]

Monumental Church

Monumental Church was built on the site of the destroyed theatre to commemorate the victims of the fire Monumental Church, Richmond, Virginia.jpg
Monumental Church was built on the site of the destroyed theatre to commemorate the victims of the fire

The ordinance for building a monument for the victims was further modified by a resolution of the Richmond City Council to erect a church at the site, as a further commemoration of the victims of the fire. City Council also sanctioned an amount of US$5,000 as its contribution toward the building of the church by the "Association for building a church on Shockoe Hill". [2] Thus the Monumental Church was built on the Richmond Theatre site between 1812 and 1814 to commemorate those who had died from the fire. The Episcopal church, [32] commissioned by U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, was designed by architect Robert Mills, the only pupil of Thomas Jefferson; Mills was also the architect of the Washington Monument and White House of the Confederacy. Mills "had a reputation for being particularly concerned with fireproofing," [33] probably owing to his work on Monumental, and later in his career designed Charleston's Fireproof Building as a testament to that fact. The church was built in an octagonal shape.

The marble monument in the form of an urn erected at the church contains the names of 72 victims of the fire, inscribed on its four cardinal faces. The monument is enclosed within a wire fence. It is located in the central yard of the memorial church, in the middle of the church's front or main portico. [2] The remains of the dead lie in a crypt below the portico. [11] On the monument, the names of the male victims face Broad Street, and the female victims' names appear on the remaining three sides. Six of the known victims were black, including at least one slave. Their six names are carved below the names of the sixty-six white victims on the monument's base. [34] Although the monument lists only 72 victims, at least 76 were known to have died in the blaze or in the days immediately following the disaster. [35]

Monumental Church established the first Sunday School program in Richmond on November 20, 1817. [36] Famous parishioners included Chief Justice John Marshall, whose family occupied pew No. 23; Edgar Allan Poe, whose foster parents, the Allans, were members and occupied pew No. 80; the Marquis de Lafayette when he visited Richmond in 1824; William Mayo of Powhatan; and the Chamberlayne family. [37] [38] Three Richmond congregations were formed from Monumental, including: St. James's in 1831, St. Paul's in 1845 and All Saints in 1888. Deconsecrated in 1965, it was given by the Medical College of Virginia to the Historic Richmond Foundation, an affiliate of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

In 2004, Monumental Church underwent a significant renovation, although the bodies of the victims are still in a brick crypt below the church. During the renovation, the original monument to the 72 people killed in the fire was replaced by an exact replica. The documentary Saving Grace-Resurrecting American History follows the process of using laser scanning to recreate the monument in computers, then sending the data to Ireland, where stonecutters used both high technology computer equipment and old-fashioned stone-cutting tools to create a new 7,000 pound monument.

In 2006, regular tours began, in cooperation with the Valentine Richmond History Center's Court End Passport. The building is open on occasion for other private functions.

Another Richmond Theatre

New Richmond Theatre, as photographed in 1858 Richmond Theatre (VA) in 1858.jpg
New Richmond Theatre, as photographed in 1858

A new theater, the third to be known as the Richmond Theatre, was built in Richmond in 1819, at a cost of US $40,000. It was built of brick at the corner of H and Seventh Street with a well-equipped stage and popular motif ornamentation. Within view of the site of the fire at the original theater, the builders of the new theater made specific mention in their publicity of the fact that the building had adequate doors for people to escape, in case of any emergency situation. [39]

In literature

Lydia Sigourney give an account of the disaster in her poem Wikisource-logo.svg The Anniversary of the Destruction of the Richmond Theatre ., published in her first volume of poetry in 1815.

The 2023 historical fiction The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland depicts the Richmond Theatre Fire and its aftermath.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mills (architect)</span> American architect

Robert Mills was an American architect and cartographer best known for designing both the first Washington Monument in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the better known Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. He is sometimes said to be the first native-born American to be professionally trained as an architect. Charles Bulfinch of Boston perhaps has a clearer claim to this honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Poe</span> Mother of Edgar Allan Poe (1787–1811)

Eliza Poe was an English-American actress and the mother of the American author Edgar Allan Poe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iroquois Theatre fire</span> 1903 building fire in Chicago, Illinois

The Iroquois Theatre fire was a catastrophic building fire in Chicago, Illinois, that broke out on December 30, 1903, during a performance attended by 1,700 people. The fire caused 602 deaths and 250 non-fatal injuries. It ranks as the worst theater fire in the United States, surpassing the carnage of the Brooklyn Theatre fire of 1876, which claimed at least 278 lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia State Capitol</span> State capitol building of the U.S. state of Virginia

The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the state capital. It houses the oldest elected legislative body in North America, the Virginia General Assembly, first established as the House of Burgesses in 1619.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham B. Venable</span> American politician (1758–1811)

Abraham Bedford Venable was a Virginia lawyer, planter and politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and briefly as U.S. Senator, as well as in the Virginia House of Delegates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George William Smith (politician)</span> American politician in Virginia (1762–1811)

George William Smith was a Virginia lawyer and politician who served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates and was twice the acting governor of the state before then being elected as the 17th Governor of Virginia. His term as elected governor was short and ended with his death in the Richmond Theatre fire of 1811.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shockoe Hill</span> Area of Richmond, Virginia, US

Shockoe Hill is one of several hills on which much of the oldest portion of the City of Richmond, Virginia, U.S., was built. It extends from the downtown area, including where the Virginia State Capitol complex sits, north almost a mile to a point where the hill falls off sharply to the winding path of Shockoe Creek. Interstate 95 now bisects the hill, separating the highly urbanized downtown portion from the more residential northern portion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monumental Church</span> Former Episcopal church and national landmark in Richmond, Virginia, United States

Monumental Church is a former Episcopal church at 1224 E. Broad Street between N. 12th and College streets in Richmond, Virginia. Designed by architect Robert Mills, it is one of America's earliest and most distinctive Greek Revival churches. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is located in the Court End historic district.

Historic Richmond Foundation was founded in 1956 by Elisabeth Scott Bocock, Louise Catterall, Mary Wingfield Scott, Dr. Wyndham B. Blanton, and others in order to save the Church Hill area surrounding St. John's Church. The mission of Historic Richmond is "to shape the future of Richmond by preserving our distinctive historic character, sparking revitalization and championing our important architectural legacy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Court End</span> Historic neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, United States

Court End is a neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, that sits to the north of the Capitol Square and East Broad Street. It developed in the Federal era, after Virginia's capital moved from Williamsburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Ratifying Convention</span> 1788 Convention ratifying the U.S. Constitution

The Virginia Ratifying Convention was a convention of 168 delegates from Virginia who met in 1788 to ratify or reject the United States Constitution, which had been drafted at the Philadelphia Convention the previous year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Theatre fire</span> 1876 fire in Brooklyn, New York

The Brooklyn Theatre fire was a catastrophic theatre fire that broke out on the evening of December 5, 1876, in the city of Brooklyn. The fire took place at the Brooklyn Theatre, near the corner of Washington and Johnson streets, with over 1,000 guests attending. The conflagration killed at least 278 individuals, with some accounts reporting more than 300 dead. 103 unidentified victims were interred in a common grave at Green-Wood Cemetery, marked by an obelisk, while more than two dozen identified victims were interred individually in separate sections at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knickerbocker Theatre (Washington, D.C.)</span> Former movie theater in Washington, D.C.

The Knickerbocker Theatre was a movie theater located at 18th Street and Columbia Road in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The theater's roof collapsed on January 28, 1922, under the weight of snow from a two-day blizzard that was later dubbed the Knickerbocker storm. The theater was showing Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford at the time of the collapse, which killed 98 patrons and injured 133.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. James's Episcopal Church (Richmond, Virginia)</span> Church in Virginia , United States

St. James's Episcopal Church is the third oldest Episcopal congregation in Richmond, Virginia. Only the older St. John's Episcopal Church on Church Hill also remains an active congregation.

Charleston Theatre, also called Broad Street Theatre was a theatre in Charleston, South Carolina between 1794 and 1833. It was the first permanent theatre in Charleston, the first with a permanent staff, and the only theater for much of its duration. It was succeeded by the New Charleston Theatre (1837–1861).

Thomas Wade West, was an American actor and theatre manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Street Theatre</span> Defunct New York theatre

The Anthony Street Theatre was an early New York City theatre which operated intermittently from 1812 to 1821. It opened as the Olympic Theatre in May 1812 and had multiple names during its brief existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Twaits (actor)</span> American actor

William Twaits was a British singer, dancer and actor-manager whose career was mostly in the United States in the early 19th-century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond Theatre (Richmond, Virginia)</span> Theatre in Richmond, Virginia

The Richmond Theatre was the name of four theatres located in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States. The first theatre was originally established in 1786 as the Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences of the United States or Quesnay's Academy. It was renamed the Richmond Theatre after it came under the management of Thomas Wade West and John Bignall. It was destroyed by fire in 1798. The second Richmond Theatre opened in 1806 on the same site and was destroyed by fire in 1811. The 1811 Richmond Theatre fire is considered a significant disaster in the history of the city, and was described by historian Meredith Henne Baker as "early America's first great disaster".

Robert Greenhow was an American politician from Virginia. He served as mayor of Williamsburg and as mayor of Richmond in 1813. He also represented James City County in the Virginia House of Delegates.

References

  1. ↑ "The Richmond Theatre Fire of 1811: A Case Study of American Disaster as Evangelical Opportunity". European Social Science History Conference. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Monument to the Victims of the Richmond Theater Fire". Historic Hampshire. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Wolfe, Brendan (December 7, 2020). "Richmond Theatre Fire (1811)". Encyclopedia Virginia .
  4. ↑ Highfill, Philip H.; Burnim, Kalman A.; Langhans, Edward A. (1993). "West, Thomas Wade". A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. Vol. 15: Tibbett to M. West. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN   978-0809318025.
  5. ↑ Stoutamire, Albert (1972). Music of the Old South: Colony to Confederacy. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 70. ISBN   9780838679104 . Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  6. ↑ Duveen & Klickstein, Denis I. and Herbert S. (July 1955). "Alexandre-Marie Quesnay De Beaurepaire's: Mémoire et prospectus, concernant l'Académie des Sciences et Beaux Arts des Etats-Unis de l'Amérique, établie à Richemond, 1788". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 63 (3). Virginia Historical Society: 280–285. JSTOR   4246133.
  7. ↑ Keller, Kate Van Winkle (2007). Dance and Its Music in America, 1528-1789. Pendragon Press. p. 229. ISBN   9781576471272 . Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  8. ↑ Church, Virginia (June 1910). "Colonial Theatres". The Theatre Magazine. XI: 181.
  9. ↑ Grigsby, Hugh Blair (1969). The History of the Virginia Federal Convention: 1788. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 67.
  10. ↑ Sonneck, Oscar George (1915). Early Opera in America. G. Schirmer. p. 185. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Bergman, Scott; Bergman, Sandi (2007). Haunted Richmond: The Shadows of Shockoe. The History Press. pp. 43–52. ISBN   978-1-59629-320-5.
  12. 1 2 Richmond Then and Now. "Newspaper Article: Richmond Theater Fire, December 26, 1811". Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
  13. ↑ Dabney, Virginius (1990). Richmond: The Story of a City. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia. p. 90. ISBN   0-8139-1274-1.
  14. ↑ Witham, Barry B. (1996). Theatre in the United States: a documentary history, Volume 1; Volumes 1750–1915. Cambridge University Press. pp. 134–6. ISBN   0-521-30858-5.
  15. ↑ Gynger Cook, ed. (2002). "Richmond Theater Fire, December 26, 1811". June Shaputis.
  16. 1 2 Hines, Emilee (2001). It Happened in Virginia. Globe Pequot Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-0-7627-1166-6.
  17. ↑ "Monumental Church Marker". hmdb.org. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Summary of Gilbert Hunt, the City Blacksmith". unc.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Francisco, Peter". ncpedia.org. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Virginia Historical Society (1997). History Notes. Virginia Historical Society.
  21. ↑ Herman Ginther (1968). Captain Staunton's River. Dietz Press.
  22. ↑ The Iron Worker. Lynchburg Foundry Company. 1972.
  23. ↑ Slayton, Jeremy. "Theater fire 200 years ago claimed 72 lives". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  24. ↑ "Historic Dumfries Virginia, Inc". historicdumfries.com. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  25. ↑ Blackman, Ann (2006). Wild Rose: The True Story of a Civil War Spy. Random House Trade Paperbacks. p. 96. ISBN   978-0-8129-7045-6.
  26. ↑ Stanard, Mary Newton (1923). Richmond: Its People and Its Story. pp. 104–105. Retrieved 2024-09-08– via Archive.org. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  27. ↑ "Time Trail, West Virginia". West Virginia Archives and History. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  28. ↑ Fieser, James (2004). The Life and Philosophy of George Tucker. Thomas Continuum. p. 90.
  29. ↑ Fieser, p.52.
  30. ↑ admin (28 March 2016). "Patrick Henry's Family" . Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  31. ↑ "Report of the Committee of Investigation," Richmond Enquirer, December 31, 1811. Quoted in Baker, Meredith Henne. The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America's First Great Disaster. LSU Press, 2012.
  32. ↑ Howe, Henry (1852). Historical collections of Virginia: containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities, together with geographical and statistical descriptions. To which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia (Google eBook ed.). Wm. R. Babcock. p.  309.
  33. ↑ Robert Russell, College of Charleston Department of Historic Preservation
  34. ↑ Baker, Meredith Henne. The Richmond Theater Fire: Early America's First Great Disaster. LSU Press, 2012.
  35. ↑ "Victims & Survivors List", http://www.theaterfirebook.com/notlaunched/?page_id=11 , retrieved 2011-11-24, author Meredith Henne Baker
  36. ↑ Evans, Mrs. Wm. E., "The History of the Monumental Church," 1817.
  37. ↑ Richmond News Leader, "Monumental Church." Dec 3, 1946.
  38. ↑ Christian, Frances Archer; Massie, Susanne Williams (2006). Homes and Gardens in Old Virginia. Kessinger Publishing. p. 79. ISBN   1-4286-5600-6.
  39. ↑ Smith, Geddeth (1996). Thomas Abthorpe Cooper: America's premier tragedian. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 181. ISBN   978-0-8386-3659-6 . Retrieved December 16, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.