Pueblo’s Grand Opera House Burned in the Early Hours of March 1, 1922
Three separate sources date the fire to March 1. The cold that night is less certain, and the cause is not established.
Pueblo’s Grand Opera House, at Fourth and Main, burned on March 1, 1922. That date appears in the Pueblo City-County Library’s digital collection, in the firefighters’ Hose Co. No. 3 museum history, and in the National Register of Historic Places form for the building that later took its place.
The library describes the building as designed by the firm of Adler & Sullivan and opened in October 1890.
What the sources say about the fire
The Hose Co. No. 3 museum page says a fire broke out at 1:15 a.m. in the fourth-floor dance hall. It says three alarms were turned in by 1:30. By 1:50, according to the page, the roof had collapsed. The red sandstone walls, described as three feet thick, remained standing.
The library’s description says the fire started on the top floor “due to unknown causes.” It says the building had been damaged in the 1921 flood and repaired. The National Register form says the opera house “burned almost to the ground.”
The museum page says the building was valued at half a million dollars, had 63 offices, and had a stage 75 feet across. Those figures come from that page alone.
How cold was it?
The museum page says it was 22 degrees below zero and that hoses froze to the ground. It says two firemen suffered frostbite.
The National Weather Service lists a record low for March 1 in Pueblo of minus 13, set in 1922. That is a daily record, not a reading taken at the fire. It does not match minus 22. Both numbers describe a severe cold, but the exact temperature at the fire has not been confirmed.
A date question
One summary we could not open, from the Colorado Encyclopedia, was reported to place the fire in April 1922. The opened sources all say March 1, and a library photograph of the fire is catalogued with the original date 1922-03-01. We have not found a March 1922 newspaper report to settle the question directly.
What came after
The National Register form says the 1921 flood and the 1922 fire were two disasters that shaped the corner. It says the Colorado Building rose on the site in 1925, and that a theater was built as part of it. The library says the opera house was never rebuilt.
What we don’t know yet
- The cause. Wikipedia says a cigarette may have ignited litter after a grocers’ association ball, citing a 1985 Art Bulletin article we could not open. The library says the cause was unknown. The record does not establish a cause.
- The temperature at the fire.
- What the Pueblo papers reported that morning. Newspaper pages from March 1 and 2, 1922 would settle the date and the details.