The Knickerbocker Snowstorm -- January 28-29, 1922



Crandall’s Knickerbocker Theatre on the morning after its roof collapsed under the weight of a 28-inch snowfall, January 29, 1922. The roof collapsed during a show on the evening of January 28. This photograph was taken from the police line and shows ambulances waiting to take away the injured. The death toll was 98, with 133 people injured.

Knickerbocker storm



Weather map for the morning of January 28, 1922

Type: Extratropical cyclone Blizzard
Formed: January 27, 1922
Dissipated: January 29, 1922
Areas affected: Mid-Atlantic states of the United States

The Knickerbocker storm was a blizzard that occurred on January 27–28, 1922 in the upper South and middle Atlantic United States. The storm took its name from the resulting collapse of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C. shortly after 9 p.m. on January 28 which killed 98 people and injured 133.

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Impact in Washington, D.C.

The measured snow depth at the main observing site in Washington, D.C. reached 28 in (71 cm) while an observer in Rock Creek Park a few miles to the north measured 33 in (84 cm) with 3.02 in (76.7 mm) of liquid equivalent. Railroad lines between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. were covered by at least 36 in (91 cm) of snow, with drifts as high as 16 ft (4.9 m). This snowstorm is the biggest in the history of Washington, D.C. since official record keeping began in 1885 (although it is dwarfed by the 36 inches (91 cm) of snow in the Washington–Jefferson Storm of January 1772). Among other disruptions, Congress adjourned as a result of the storm.

Theater roof collapse



Interior of the Knickerbocker Theatre after the collapse of the roof as a result of the weight of snow from the storm.

The Knickerbocker Theatre was the largest and newest movie house in Washington, D.C., built in 1917 and owned by Harry M. Crandall. The roof was flat, which allowed the snow which had recently fallen to remain on the roof. During the movie's (Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford) intermission, the weight of the heavy, wet snow became too much for the roof to bear. The roof split down the middle, bringing down the balcony seating as well as a portion of the brick wall. Dozens were buried. The disaster ranks as one of the worst in Washington, D.C. history. Congressman Andrew Jackson Barchfeld was among those killed in the theater. The theater's architect, Reginald Wyckliffe Geare, and owner, Harry M. Crandall, later committed suicide; Geare in 1927 and Crandall in 1937.

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Knickerbocker Theatre (Washington, D.C.)



The Knickerbocker Theatre in October, 1917

Location: 18th Street, and Columbia Road Northwest, Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates: 38.92225°N 77.042806°W Coordinates: 38.92225°N 77.042806°W
Completed: 1917
Destroyed: 1922

Design and construction
Architect: Reginald Geare

The Knickerbocker Theatre was a Washington, D.C., United States, movie theater located at 18th Street and Columbia Road in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. It 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 more. The disaster ranks as one of the worst in Washington, D.C., history. Former Congressman Andrew Jackson Barchfeld and a number of prominent political and business leaders were among those killed in the theater. The theater's architect, Reginald Geare, and owner, Harry Crandall, later committed suicide, in 1927 and 1937, respectively.

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Theater

The Knickerbocker Theatre was commissioned by Harry Crandall in 1917. Designed by architect Reginald Geare, it had a seating capacity of 1,700.

Collapse

On January 28, 1922, the Knickerbocker was showing the silent comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. News reports estimated that between 300 and 1,000 people were in the theater that evening. Two days before, a massive blizzard had begun and lasted 28 hours, resulting in significant accumulation of snow and ice throughout the Washington, DC area. It was the worst snowfall in the area since 1899, and much of the city was paralyzed by it. The snow accumulation on the Knickerbocker's flat roof put significant strain on the structure, and on the evening of the 28th, it gave way.



The Knickerbocker Theatre from the outside after the collapse of the roof

The collapse occurred suddenly just after 9:00 PM. Witnesses reported that they had no hint of danger such as creaking or loud noises beforehand. With a loud noise, the roof of the theater collapsed onto the concrete balcony, and both in turn collapsed onto the orchestra seating section. In the moments after the collapse, a witness called a telephone operator, who spread the alarm to police, firefighters, and hospitals. She also phoned the city government, which ordered the immediate closure of all theaters in the city to prevent loss of life from any further collapses. People nearby during the collapse rushed to help, although their efforts were disorganized until the arrival of more than 600 soldiers and Marines. It took time for authorities to gain control of the scene as relatives of people in the theater tried to gain entry. Authorities also experienced delays in getting fire engines and other equipment to the scene as the streets of the city were nearly impassable in places due to snow and vehicles that had become stuck during the blizzard. However, a fleet of ambulances from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and volunteer taxis were able to reach the scene and evacuate some of the injured to hospitals.

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Further reading

Ambrose, Kevin (January 14, 2013). The Knickerbocker Snowstorm (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. p. 128.

Ambrose, Kevin (January 27, 2017). "Haunting faces, scenes and stories from the Knickerbocker Theatre roof crash 95 years ago". Washington Post.

External links

Footage of the Knickerbocker Theatre Disaster on YouTube



The Knickerbocker Theatre Tragedy, at Ghosts of DC

Knickerbocker Theater Collapse, at Failures.Wikispaces

Knickerbocker Theater disaster, 1/30/22

B&O Railroad Museum

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In the early morning of February 17, 2003, heavy snow from the Presidents' Day Storm collapsed half of the roof of the museum's roundhouse. Although the structure's central support columns remained standing, the supporting iron struts and ties of the destroyed roofing sections failed under the snow load. The museum suffered heavy damage not only to the roundhouse itself but also to the collection within the roundhouse. Some of the items were damaged beyond repair. Reporting on the devastation the following day, The Baltimore Sun said, "...hours after the collapse, columns of mangled steel stuck out from the roundhouse ... Locomotives and passenger cars in the museum's collection, some dating from the 1830s, could be seen covered with snow and debris." The roundhouse, with a newly repaired roof, reopened to the public on November 13, 2004, and the damaged locomotives and cars were surrounded by a plexiglass barrier. As of September 2015, all damaged exhibits have been restored to their original appearance.

After the roof collapse, subsequent fund raising and restoration allowed the museum to upgrade many of its facilities. In 2005 the museum opened a new service facility west of the roundhouse for restoration of historical equipment and maintenance of active equipment.

Back Story: 2003 blizzard caused B&O roof collapse

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Half of the roof of the roundhouse collapsed at the B&O Railroad Museum on West Pratt Street during the snowstorm of Presidents' Weekend 2003. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)

Frederick N. Rasmussen, The Baltimore Sun

February 14, 2013, 6:11 PM

The Presidents' Day storm of 2003 that swept into Maryland and dumped 26.8 inches of snow on Baltimore — a record-breaker — caused a partial collapse of the B&O Railroad Museum roof on Feb. 17, wreaking havoc on its collection of historic locomotives and cars.

Lost Washington: the Knickerbocker Theater

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Crandall rebuilt the Knickerbocker in 1923 and reopened it as the Ambassador. As the Ambassador, the building survived until it was razed in 1969.

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3 Responses to “Lost Washington: the Knickerbocker Theater”

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Mark Frazer Says:
February 13, 2010 at 3:27 pm

Thanks for the photos. I went to the Ambassador theater to see Jimi Hendrix play a week long gig. I had no idea it was the rebuilt Knickerbocker.

Retropolis

A century later, the pain of D.C.’s deadliest disaster still resonates

By Paul Schwartzman
Yesterday at 7:00 a.m. EST

Washington is well known for its multitude of memorials, a vast portfolio that includes tributes to the likes of Jefferson and Lincoln, veterans of World War II, the passengers who perished on the Titanic and even Sonny Bono. ... Tom Barnes knows of one omission he considers beyond egregious: the 98 people who were killed in the deadliest disaster in D.C.’s history, a catastrophe that occurred 100 years ago Friday when the roof of a movie theater collapsed under the weight of more than two feet of snow.

Barnes’s great-grandparents, Clarissa and Reginald Vance, were among those who died on Jan. 28, 1922, at Crandall’s Knickerbocker Theatre. The audience had just settled into their seats for the second showing of the silent comedy “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.” ... When he passes 18th Street and Columbia Road NW, the Adams Morgan corner where the Knickerbocker stood, Barnes said, he can’t help but feel a measure of anger that no memorial plaque exists at the site acknowledging a calamity that generated banner headlines around the world. A total of 133 people were injured in the collapse.

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[Remembering the 100th anniversary of Washington’s Knickerbocker theater disaster]

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The Knickerbocker’s opening in October 1917 was a grand affair, with newspaper accounts crowing about the theater’s opulence: walls made of “Indiana limestone and Pompeian art brick,” a state-of-the-art ventilation system, balconies, parlors, lounges and a Japanese tea room. ... “Betsy Ross” was the theater’s first “photo-play,” as motion pictures were then called. A special train transported the film’s star, Alice Brady, and other cast members from New York to D.C., where they greeted the thousands of fans who showed up at the Knickerbocker. ... All at once, the theater transformed an otherwise sleepy crossroads two miles north of the White House, where President Woodrow Wilson resided, into a slice of cosmopolitan hubbub.

Five years later, on the night of Jan. 28, 1922, a record snowstorm had dropped 28 inches on the city. More than 200 people tromped through the snow for the 9 p.m. showing of “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford,” an adaptation of a George M. Cohan Broadway production about con artists. ... With an orchestral accompaniment, the film had just begun when Moe Gold, 20, a law student seated in the second row, heard what he later described as a “sinister sort of whistling noise above my head,” after which “I saw the roof of the theater open” and “the whole world seemed to fall on me.”

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Front page of The Washington Post on Jan. 29, 1922. (The Washington Post)

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A year later, Crandall rebuilt the theater, maintaining its largely undamaged exterior walls and renaming it the Ambassador, which stayed open until the late 1960s. In 1967, patrons could score tickets to a Hendrix show for all of $1.50. ... A wrecking ball demolished the Ambassador in 1970, after which a bank was built on part of the site, leaving a small public plaza on the rest. If he could have his way, Barnes said, the Knickerbocker’s facade would be rebuilt to honor the site’s history, though not with a theater on the inside.

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By Paul Schwartzman
Paul Schwartzman specializes in political profiles and narratives about life, death and everything in between. Before joining The Washington Post, he worked at the New York Daily News, where he covered Rudolph W. Giuliani’s rise as mayor. Twitter https://twitter.com/paulschwartzman

wdccruise 18 hours ago

This youtube video explains the problems with the design and construction of the building that resulted in the collapse:

B-flat 22 hours ago

A Post article several years ago did a better job at explaining why the roof collapsed. I.e., a diagram showed that the roof trusses extended onto the wall supports by only about 4" all around -- when the wall spread due to the enormous weight of the snow, those trusses weren't resting on anything, and it collapsed.

Thejestisyettocome 22 hours ago

This article from yesterday goes into more detail: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/27/knickerbocker-theater-dc-snowstorm-record/

padnactap02 15 hours ago

Was it this article? There's some discussion of the architectural issues:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/26/98-people-died-in-the-knickerbocker-collapse-courts-never-found-who-to-blame/

Wonderful World 24 hours ago

I wonder if any health-and-safety changes came about as a result of this disaster...as other notable disasters like infamous hotel and other theatre fires have done to change the way doors open (out instead of in) and building materials and codes.

Wonderful World 20 hours ago

Answering my own question:

According to the Smithsonian, yes, some building codes were altered. Apparently, the Knickerbocker's roof (while adhering to the building codes of the time) was barely supported by the actual walls of the building, rather than on beams. That changed in the city after the disaster.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-a-winter-storm-triggered-one-of-the-deadliest-disasters-in-washington-dc-history-180979446/

Hat tip for the link, the Washingtonian, which managed to get the name wrong

Knickerbocker Memorial

Good site. Lots of pictures.