The Rhoads Opera House was in this building at the corner of East Philadelphia Avenue and Washington Street in Boyertown, PA.

In two days will be the 100th anniversary of the fire that happened there on Jan. 13, 1908. The fire claimed 170 lives and was a tragedy so terrible that it was never forgotten.

Luckily, no one in my family was killed. But there is a family story to tell. My grandmother, now 89, wasn't born until 10 years after the fire. But she recalls as a little girl everytime relatives visited from Allentown, they'd talk about the fire. It's easy to tell that, as a little girl, she got tired of everyone talking about it.

Now, the story. Her mother's brother, Nathan "Nate" Fegley, had told his mother that he was going to see the play that night. When the fire broke out and they heard where it was, they thought he was inside. Naturally, they were worried and scared. As fate would have it, Nate had changed his mind and taken the trolley to Reading. When he heard about the fire up there, he tried to get back home, but they wouldn't let him on the trolley because they were bringing doctors and nurses down from Reading to help. He finally made his way home (I don't know how) around 2 or 3 a.m.

To commemorate the tragedy, the Boyertown Area Historical Society has an exhibit on the fire, and yesterday they had a speaker whose grandfather escaped the fire and collected news clippings about it. Unfortunately, I couldn't go hear him, but my mother went and said he was a great speaker who presented the tragedy without casting blame. This fire photo is from the Society's website.

They've had two walks through town spotlighting where things were at the time.

St. John's Lutheran Church is having a special memorial on Sunday to remember the victims.

On Channel 69 news they're airing a special on Sunday night. Watch clip

You can find more information on the fire using these Google or Yahoo searches.

Other events are planned, including a new historic marker. (All reports seem to indicate the bronze plaque on the building is wrong and there are 170 victims not 171.)