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PHOTOS: 100 years since Knickerbocker Theatre collapse in DC

By FOX 5 DC Digital Team
Updated  January 28, 2022 10:46am EST
Washington, D.C.
FOX 5 DC
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Policeman, rescue workers, and onlookers stand amid the wreckage of the Knickerbocker Theatre, Washington DC, January 29, 1922. The structure's roof collapsed under the weight of 28 inches of snow from a blizzard, resulting in 98 deaths and 113 injuries; later, both the building's owner and architect committed suicide. The blizzard, which also affected a large portion of the Eastern Seaboard, came to be called the Knickerbocker Storm. (Photo by Herbert A. French/Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Friday marks 100 years since 98 people were killed in 1922 when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in D.C. collapsed under the weight of nearly two feet of snow.

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The Knickerbocker Theatre, once located in Adams Morgan, was the largest movie theater in the District at the time. A blizzard, now known as the Knickerbocker blizzard brought 28" of snow to D.C. between Jan. 27 and Jan. 28, 1922, according to Georgetown University library archives.

The Knickerbocker opened for a show on Jan. 28, 1922 and during intermission, the theater's roof collapsed under the weight of the snow, killing 98 people.

The Adams Morgan BID will hold a candlelight vigil Friday night at 6 p.m. to honor the lives lost at the public plaza at 1801 Adams Mill Road NW. The victims' names will be read and officials will share the history of the event.

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The Mt. Pleasant Library also has a memorial display in the lobby for neighbors to see newspaper headlines from 1922, read through copies of a commemorative booklet that came out after the disaster and see a map of where many of 98 victims who were lost to the Knickerbocker Theatre roof collapse lived in Adams Morgan and Mt. Pleasant.

Washington, D.C.