The fire tragedy in southern California is bringing horror to the people there. As of Jan. 14, 2025, at least 24 people have lost their lives there and dozens more are still missing. Fire tragedy came to our region 117 years ago with a tragic fire in the Rhoades Opera House in Boyertown. It was a disaster that took the lives of nearly 8 percent of the community's population and sent feelings of despair and loss well beyond the town's municipal boundaries. It sparked changes in, and creation of, laws intended to make public venues safer. This story was originally published in the Oct. 1, 2001.
At the intersection of Routes 29 and 100, the sign indicates that Boyertown is just a short trip south. Not really that far away, yet the Berks County community seems well outside of the boundaries of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Some of us have friends or family living there. Some may enjoy eating at Saville's Diner or having a steak sandwich at Talarico's. Others just know they travel through it on their way to Reading.
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At least 170 people died in the Rhoads Opera House Fire. The
Jan. 13, 1908 tragedy in Boyertown sparked the creation of
new laws to provide safety to people attending theaters and
other public venues.
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Many folks never heard about the Boyertown Opera House Fire of 1908. It was one of the worst tragedies to hit Pennsylvania in the twentieth century. A disaster that claimed the lives of more than 170 people. This neighboring community may be across the county line, but the horror of that incident was felt in the lives of many here in the Upper Perkiomen Valley.
The conflagration struck while more than 370 people were gathered in the second floor "Opera House" of the Rhoads building on the evening of January 13, 1908. This was a time when theater performances were presented on stages lit with kerosene lamps, slides illuminated on calcium projectors, and building safety and fire codes were almost non-existent. That Monday night, those factors would contribute to a horror that created a pain felt well
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From the Washington St. side of the building, you can see into
the collapsed second and third floors. The Opera House was
located on the second floor of the building.
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beyond the Boyertown limits. Reportedly, the panic started when a gas tube came loose from the projector, causing a loud hissing sound. Hearing the frightening sound, the crowd nearest the projectionist began to rustle. Someone on the stage pulled the curtains apart to see what was going on in the audience. In the confusion, kerosene lamps were knocked over and fire erupted. The devastation came quickly.
Fire equipment from the Keystone and Friendship volunteer fire companies of Boyertown were dispatched. They called Pottstown's Good Will Fire Company for additional manpower and equipment. A steam engine was sent by train to help fight the fire. Carelessness, an overcrowded theater, locked doors, and poorly marked exits were just a few of the causes of this catastrophe. But, this story is about the effect it had on some lives closer to the banks of the Perkiomen.
John Graver was a young worker at the Boyertown Eisenlohr Cigar factory. He was the nephew of Pennsburg resident Daniel Graver. John was a volunteer fireman with the Keystone Fire Company of Boyertown. When the volunteers received the alarm, they decided to pull the hose cart to the fire instead of spending time fetching and hooking up the horses. They had done this many times and it seemed practical since the fire was only three blocks away.
John took a position at the left front and the volunteers raced toward the scene.
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John Graver was a volunteer fireman with the Keystone
Fire Company of Boyertown. While helping to pull the
hose wagon to the fire the group of volunteers lost control
of the wagon and hit a tree. John was crushed and died
shortly after.
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However, while rushing to the fire they lost control of the wagon and hit a tree. John was crushed between the hose cart and the tree. He was picked up and carried to a nearby doctor's office. All the while encouraging his comrades to go on to the fire and not mind him. He died at the doctor's office.
Noted Pennsburg businessman Dr. J. G. Mensch lost his great-nephew Oscar in the fire. Oscar was supposed to be at Pottstown Business College but made the fateful decision to stay in Boyertown and attend the play.
In some cases entire families perished, like Robert Tagert and his wife Ellen, who together with their daughter Rosa Ellen, died in the inferno. Robert was the brother of well-known Upper Hanover Township farmer James Tagert. East Greenville Justice of the Peace F. M. Keller lost his sister, Caroline, and his niece, Alice, in the disaster. Stella Heimbach, sister of East Greenville Ice Dealer Isaac Heimbach, perished along with her fiancé, Irwin Clemmer. Irwin was the brother of Calvin Clemmer, the night shift telegraph operator at the Pennsburg railroad station.
Perkiomen School's Rev. Dr. O. S. Kriebel conducted the funeral services for Jacob Johnson, brother of Rev. E. E. S. Johnson of Upper Hanover Township. Jacob died a few days after the fire of burns he received while rescuing his wife, Elizabeth. Another victim was Nora Herbst, sister of Mrs. Harvey Clemmer, of East Greenville. Nora originally had a ticket for the Tuesday night show. Her employer needed one more ticket for the Tuesday show so that his family could attend together. She traded with him and attended the ill-fated Monday night performance.
An impressively researched account of the disastrous fire and the events surrounding it can be found in A Town in Tragedy – The Boyertown Opera House Fire Volume II. Published in 1992, the book was written by Mary Jane Schneider. Schneider was the editor of the Boyertown Area Times from 1966 through 1989. She also penned an earlier publication Midwinter Mourning – The Boyertown Opera House Fire Volume I in 1991.
Of the bodies removed from the ruins, one newspaper reporter wrote "…112 were females and 45 males, while 15 were so badly burned that sex could not be distinguished. Twenty-two bodies are those of children…"