Episode 1 of 2
Richmond Theatre Fire
- When
- December 26, 1811
- Where
- Richmond Theatre
The fire killed 72 people, including Governor Smith and Senator Venable, during a benefit performance on December 26, 1811.
The fire devastated the Richmond Theatre on Broad Street. Governor Smith initially reached safety but returned to find his son and died. The Common Council later blamed the building's inferior design for the loss of life.
Sources
- Richmond Theatre fire Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-22
- George William Smith (politician) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-07
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.