On the night of Saturday, January 28, 1922, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C., collapsed.

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Last edited Mon Jun 24, 2024, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Capital Weather Gang Retweeted

99 years ago today, in 1922, the roof at the Knickerbocker Theatre (at 18th Street & Columbia Road in Adams Morgan) collapsed under the weight of 28 inches of snow, killing 98 people. The Post article from 1922 is unbelievably haunting: http://wapo.st/2Tipqcz
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Blizzard of 1922: Knickerbocker Theater Disaster
71,204 views • Dec 19, 2009

Jeff Krulik
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Hand cranked newsreel footage (silent) of the Knickerbocker Theater disaster during the worst snowstorm in Washington DC history, January 27-28, 1922. I used this footage in my documentary TWENTY FIVE CENTS BEFORE NOON which aired on WETA in 1990

Knickerbocker storm

Formed: January 27, 1922
Dissipated: January 29, 1922

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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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
Completed: 1917
Destroyed: 1922
Design and construction
Architect: Reginald Geare

The Knickerbocker Theatre was a movie theater located at 18th Street and Columbia Road in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The theater's roof 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.

The disaster was the worst in Washington, D.C., history. Former Congressman Andrew Jackson Barchfeld and several prominent political and business leaders were among those killed in the collapse. The theater's architect, Reginald Geare, and owner, Harry Crandall, later died by suicide in 1927 and 1937, respectively.

The Knickerbocker Theatre collapse is tied with the Surfside condominium collapse in 2021 as the third-deadliest structural engineering failure in United States history, behind the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in 1981 and the collapse of the Pemberton Mill in 1860.

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Source: http://kaloramahistory.blogspot.com/2014/09/knickbocker-theater-death-trap-of-1922.html

Here is a list of those who were killed and those who survived. The site has quite a few pictures too.

Knickerbocker Memorial

Full disclosure: I've done some of the editing on those Wikipedia pages.

Mon Jun 24, 2024: On this day, June 24, 2021, the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed.

Sat Jan 27, 2024: On the afternoon of this day, January 27, 1922, snow began to fall in DC. The snow went on all the next day.

Sat Jan 27, 2024: On the afternoon of this day, January 27, 1922, snow began to fall in DC. The snow went on all the next day.

Sat Jun 24, 2023: On this day, June 24, 2021, the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed.

Sat Jan 28, 2023: On this day, Saturday, January 28, 1922, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed.

Fri Jan 27, 2023: On this day, Friday, January 27, 1922, the Knickerbocker Storm started.

Fri Jan 27, 2023: On this day, Friday, January 27, 1922, the Knickerbocker Storm started.

Fri Jan 28, 2022: 100 years ago today, Saturday, January 28, 1922, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed.

Thu Jun 24, 2021: A multi-story building near Miami has partially collapsed, authorities say

Thu Jan 28, 2021: On Saturday, January 28, 1922, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed.

Mon Jan 27, 2020: On Friday, January 27, 1922, the Knickerbocker Storm started.