The Brooklyn Theatre fire was a catastrophic theatre fire that broke out on the evening of December 5, 1876, in the city of Brooklyn (now a borough of New York City). 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.
The Brooklyn Theatre fire ranks third in fatalities among fires occurring in theatres and other public assembly buildings in the United States, behind the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire and the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire.See National Fire Protection Association, Public assembly and nightclub fires.
Most deaths occurred in the family circle, the uppermost level of the theatre where the cheapest seats were located. This gallery was quickly exposed to intense heat and thick, suffocating smoke. With only a single stairway for exit, congestion blocked escape, trapping more than half of those inside."Verdict of Inquest" British House of Commons page 159
Brooklyn Theatre
The Brooklyn Theatre opened on October 2, 1871 and stood near the southeast corner of Washington and Johnson streets one block north of Brooklyn's City Hall."New Theater", Brooklyn Daily Eagle September 6, 1871, page 2, column 3 It was owned by The Brooklyn Building Association, a partnership of affluent Brooklyn residents including Abner C. Keeney, William Kingsley, and Judge Alexander McCue."Brooklyn Theatre" Brooklyn Daily Eagle October 3, 1871, page 2 column 8 After its destruction, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called it Brooklyn's "principal theatre".'Resume of the Chief Features' "The Fire" Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 7, 1876 page 2, column 6 The theatre had been managed by Sara and Frederick B. Conway until the last 20 months of its existence; the Conways were long involved in New York and Brooklyn theatre, having managed Brooklyn's Park Theatre from 1864 to 1871. Sara Conway died in April 1875,"Death of Mrs. F. B. Conway Last Night Brooklyn Daily Eagle April 29, 1875 page 2 column 3 about six months after her husband. Their children Minnie, Lillian, and Frederick Jr. then managed the theatre for a short time, but without success. Albert Marshman PalmerSee Wayne S. Turney's biographical sketch A. M. Palmer and Sheridan Shook were the manager and proprietor of New York's Union Square Theatre, and they assumed a new lease on the Brooklyn Theatre later in 1875, managing it until the catastrophe took place.
The Brooklyn Theatre stood a block from Fulton Street, the main thoroughfare to the Manhattan ferries and readily accessible to both New York and Brooklyn residents. Its seating capacity was about 1,600."Special Report of the Fire Marshall" British House of Commons page 14 Both Conway and Shook & Palmer sought upscale productions with well-known actors and actresses. The Brooklyn Theatre became a well-respected house in Brooklyn's nascent theatre district, which included the smaller and older Park, Olympic, and Globe theatres."Theatres in Brooklyn" Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac – 1890 page 34
The Two Orphans Shook and Palmer were already enjoying success with their Union Square Theatre Company in New York and went on to transplant a number of their productions to the Brooklyn house. Their specialty was the adaptation of French plays to the American stage."Some Great Old Plays" Munsey Magazine page 123, column 1 The Two Orphans was a melodrama about two young homeless orphans separated by abduction; it featured Kate Claxton, pp. 87–88. and was presented on the night of the fire.A film version entitled Orphans of the Storm was produced in 1921 starring Dorothy and Lillian Gish and directed by D. W. Griffith. , pp. 87–88. It had been a particularly successful play, running for 180 performances in 1874 at the Union Square Theatre." "The Two Orphans Collection, 1874–1926" Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin It was originally Les Deux Orphelines by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon, and had been adapted to the American stage by N. Hart Jackson.This name is per the original title page of the translated play. It is possible that the name is a transcription error omitting a comma and should read Jackson, N. Hart, as referenced at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. Shook and Palmer brought it to the Brooklyn Theatre in March 1876 after an American tour, including one performance at the Brooklyn Theatre on April 12, 1875, two weeks before Sara Conway's death."An Important Announcement" Brooklyn Daily Eagle April 29, 1876 page 1, column 3
The 1876 run at the Brooklyn Theatre was well received but was ending."Closing announcement" Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 2, 1876 page 1 column 8 At the time of the fire, Palmer indicated that a number of Union Square Theatre productions had been scheduled for the Brooklyn Theatre and that all the scenery and properties for Ferrsol, Rose Michel, Conscience, and Colonel Sellers had been stored on the premises, along with the wardrobe for The Two Orphans and a suite of furniture for Rose Michel.'Interview with Mr. Palmer, one of the Lessees of the Theatre' in "Calamity", Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 6, 1876 page 4 column 3
Building features The Brooklyn Theatre was designed by Thomas R. Jackson and constructed in 1871 according to Sara Conway's specifications."The Inquest: Statement of Thomas B. Jackson, Architect" British House of Commons page 157 Brooklyn Police Fire Marshal Patrick Keady gathered testimony and constructed a chronology of the disaster, and he said that the structure had better exits than many other public buildings in Brooklyn at that time.'Well provided with means of exits' "Special Report of the Fire Marshall" British House of Commons page 170
The theatre occupied an L-shaped lot, with the Proscenium theatre occupying the wing fronting Johnson Street. The stage and scene doors opened onto Johnson Street from this wing. The scene doors were , large enough to accommodate scenic flats and large props.'The Construction of the Theatre' "Assistance for the Destitute" Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 8, 1876 page 2 column 4 The stage doors were smaller but could accommodate people carrying heavy loads. These Johnson Street doors were utilitarian and little used by the public.'Interview with Colonel Abner C. Keeney' "Assistance for the Destitute" Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 8, 1876 page 2 column 4 The shorter wing on Washington Street housed the main entrance to the lower floors and a separate staircase to the third floor theatre gallery. They were for public use, and Jackson considered these main entry ways to be large enough to discharge a full house of 1,450 people in less than five minutes."The Inquest: Statement of Thomas B. Jackson, Architect" British House of Commons page 4
There were three sets of doors which Jackson designated as special exits. They led onto Flood's Alley, a small street running along the east side of the building that bisected the block from Johnson to Myrtle Avenue."The Inquest: Statement of Thomas B. Jackson, Architect" British House of Commons page 3Rocheford opened one set of the three in the vestibule opposite the Washington Street entrance. "An Account of the Fire" in "Holocaust" Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 6, 1876 page 2, column 6 Each set was across. The southern door closest to Myrtle Avenue opened into the eastern end of the lobby, underneath the flight of stairs leading from the lobby to the dress circle. The middle set opened onto a hallway adjoining the parquet, and the northern set opened near the stage and orchestra pit. The middle set served a stairway ascending to the second floor dress circle.'Means of Egress' "Extracts of Evidence taken by the Fire Marshall" British House of Commons page 17 These alley doors were normally locked to discourage gate-crashing. The structure had no fire escapes in the modern sense: those that connect higher storey windows to the street. Sources from the period often called these alley doors "fire escapes", but designs of the era were untested and tended to be impractical.
Seating, interior passages, and spaces
The Brooklyn Theatre had three levels of seating. Parquet and parquet circle seating occupied the theatre's ground floor and contained 600 seats. The dress circleThe first gallery of seats in a theatre, customarily set apart for spectators in evening dress. occupied a second floor balcony which seated 550. A third floor gallery, the family circle, extended to the south wall of the structure and seated 450. The family circle had its own entrance and ticket booth and customers for this seating did not usually commingle with patrons purchasing seating for the lower floors.
Furthest from the stage and up against the theatre ceiling, the family circle offered the cheapest accommodations and had the most roundabout access to the street. The passageway started from the gallery, passed through a curtain partition, then descended southward down a short flight of stairs to a platform set against the south wall. It turned right (west) and descended another flight of stairs anchored to the south wall, ending at a second floor corridor. Patrons then made a right turn into this corridor and follow the passageway northward along the west wall to the family circle box office. The passage then turned left, westward again, descended a third flight of stairs down to a short, street-level hallway that led onto Washington Street (see Floor Plan 2).
Access to the dress circle was more straightforward. Patrons entered and left the dress circle via a flight of stairs that descended south to a landing, then turned right onto a second flight that opened into the lobby. Patrons in the dress circle also had a second emergency exit along the alley side of the building, going down a flight of stairs to the middle exit onto Flood's Alley. The exit was generally locked to thwart gate crashers so the stairs were little used and not well known.
Eight private boxes, four on each side of the stage and each accommodating six people, rounded out the seating, the box seats furnishing the most elegant and expensive accommodations in the house. At the time the theatre opened in 1871, seating in the family circle cost fifty cents and the dress circle cost a dollar. In the lower auditorium, parquet seating, inconveniently close to the stage, cost seventy five cents while the parquet circle cost a dollar fifty. The box seats cost ten dollars."Opening Night Announcement" Brooklyn Eagle September 25, 1871 page 1 column 2
Stage and flies