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On March 30, 1900, a fire
started in the roof of the Columbia Theater on
Monroe street in Chicago. In thirty minutes, it was
gutted, the upper floors having pancaked into the
stores and theater on the ground floor. Fire
chief Swenie said it had been a recognized fire
trap for some time. In an odd coincidence, one of
the upper floors was the meeting place for the
Iroquois Club.
A rehearsal for a Rogers Bros. production was in progress
when the fire broke out. The few people in the
building escaped. There were a few injuries, none
requiring hospitalization.
One of those who escaped was the assistant
treasurer, Thomas
Noonan — who later became the business manager
at the Iroquois Theater and was the senior manager
when the Iroquois fire took place. Another Columbia
employee who would in four years be at the Iroquois
Theater was chief electrician,
Archibald Bernard.
Theater manager Will j. Davis remarked:
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"Thank God there was no matinee on. I shudder to
contemplate the consequences of such a case. I have
feared such a catastrophe. The house had outlived
its usefulness."
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The six-story structure was
built in 1880 by
Jack Haverly and Col. John B. Carson (1835–1892), a
wealthy railroad executive from Quincy, IL. In 1881
during one of Haverly's innumerable financial
troubles, he sold his half to Carson, who then
leased it back to Haverly.
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For its first three years, it
was named Haverly's Theater. On behalf of Haverly's
creditors, in 1883, Charles H. McConnell
(1841-1916), publisher (National Printing Company)
turned theater man (later turned druggist), took
charge of the Columbia and two other Haverly
theaters. He called Will J. Davis in from the road
to manage the theater. It was Will's first theater
management experience.* He co-managed the theater
for three years before heading off to build the
Haymarket Theater (that burned in 1893). During those
three years, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were
performing at the theater when management decided to
change the name from Haverly's Theater to the
Columbia. Ellen Terry did the christening. John
Carson was a recognized enthusiast of Henry Irving.
Alf Hayman managed the theater after 1886 and in 1890, persuaded his
brother,
Al Hayman, and Will Davis to sign a lease and make the theater part of the syndicate.
Number two of
three
The Columbia was the second
of three Davis-managed theaters that burned. In
Davis' assessment years after his acquittal in
the Iroquois fire, newspapers had unfairly
targeted him in Iroquois Theater coverage. By
today's standards their criticism was amazingly
reserved. Left out of 1903-1907 newspapers, for
example, was any mention of his past history
with theater fires, even in a AP story that
highlighted the history of major theater fires
and included the Columbia. See below.
I wonder if the
courts would have permitted mention of the
Columbia fire had Davis ever faced trial.
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