Trolleys and other vehicles stop on Randolph Street outside the main entrance of Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre shortly after a fire broke out on Dec. 30, 1903.
Chicagoans look down “death alley” toward the Iroquois Theatre following the Dec. 30, 1903, fire that killed more than 600 people. Many died falling from the boards placed between buildings, above ladders in background, as they tried to escape the fire that claimed twice as many lives as the Great Chicago Fire.
Charred seats show where the fire killed more than 600 people in less than 15 minutes at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago in 1903.
An Iroquois Theatre ticket stub from the ill-fated matinee performance of “Mr. Blue Beard,” during which a fire killed hundreds and led to stricter safety standards across the country.
Stage actor and comedian Eddie Foy, the famous Chicago vaudevillian who was the star of the musical “Mr. Blue Beard,” was onstage at the Iroquois Theatre on Dec. 30, 1903, for the matinee performance when the theater caught fire, killing over 600 people. Foy managed to escape the fire.
The Dec. 31, 1903, front page of the Chicago Tribune after the fire at the Iroquois Theatre.
