Wash DC, 28" Snowstorm Changed Bldg Codes, Knickerbocker Theatre Disaster, Adams Morgan Jan 28, 1922

[appalachiablue]

- ABC7 News, WJLA, Jan. 2026. (5 mins).
The Knickerbocker Theatre was located at 18th and Columbia Rd., N.W. in Adam's Morgan.
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Wiki. -The Knickerbocker Storm of 1922 remains Washington D.C.'s deadliest snowstorm disaster. On a winter evening in Jan. 1922, Washington D.C. experienced what remains the largest snowfall in city history - 28" in a single storm. Known as the Knickerbocker Storm, the event transformed from a historic weather milestone into one of the most tragic disasters the city has ever known.

At 9 p.m., the roof of the Knickerbocker in Adam's Morgan collapsed during a silent film screening, killing 98 people and injuring 133 others. On Jan. 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 severe blizzard had begun and lasted 28 hours, resulting in a significant accumulation of snow and ice throughout the Washington area. It was the worst snowfall the capital had seen since 1899, and much of the city was paralyzed. The snow accumulation on the Knickerbocker's flat roof put significant strain on the structure, and on the evening of Jan. 28, it gave way...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_Theatre_(Washington,_D.C.)

- Early witness accounts suggested that theater employees had discussed removing the snow from the roof, but had decided that it was unnecessary.
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- Also (Industrial Accident):

- The Pemberton Mill was a large textiles factory in Lawrence, Mass., originally built in 1853. On Jan. 10, 1860, at around 4:30 p.m., a section of the building suddenly collapsed, trapping several hundred workers underneath the rubble, in what has been called "the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of the worst industrial calamities in American history." Of the hundreds crushed under the wreckage, an estimated 88 to 145 of them were killed instantly, and 166 were removed, albeit critically injured...More,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemberton_Mill

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Thanks, and good for WJLA for saying somerhing.

I usually post something in American History about that. I ran out of time this year. I think I'll post a bit late this year.