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Iroquois Theater Fire Connections to the Ridge – Part 2

Dr. Mervin B. Rimes, a dentist from Englewood, was killed in the Iroquois Theater fire, along with his wife and three of his four children.
Thomas Rimes was seven years old when he died in the Iroquois Theater fire, along with his parents and two brothers.
The funeral of the Rimes family was one of the largest resulting from the Iroquois Theater fire. Dr. Rimes was a noted dentist in Englewood.
Lucille Oakey was 13 when she died in the fire with her father and sister. The Oakeys attended the play when the cousins of Mrs. Rimes canceled.
Marian Oakey, 11, died in the Iroquois Theater fire with her father and sister.
Art and Flora Francis as young children. Flora, then 7, fell ill so the family cancelled plans to attend the Iroquois Theater on December 30, 1903, the day of the great fire. They were descendants of early settlers on the Ridge and Art's family moved to Beverly. Linda Lamberty, RHS Historian, is Art's granddaughter.

This is a five-installment post about the connections between the Ridge and the Iroquois Theater fire. To read the entire story go to the Ridge Historical Society Facebook page.

Part 2. Entire families were lost in the Iroquois Theater fire on December 30, 1903. What started for some families as a delightful, much-anticipated holiday event, going downtown to see the musical “Mr. Bluebeard, Jr.” at the new theater, turned into a devastating tragedy.

One case was that of a prominent dentist from Englewood, Dr. Mervin B. Rimes, 36. He and his wife Bertha and their three sons, Myron, 10, Thomas, 7, and Lloyd, 5, all perished. According to the history passed down by the family, they were identified by their socks, knitted with their initials by their grandmother as Christmas presents. A 3-year old daughter left at home was the only remaining family member.

The Rimes family was originally scheduled to attend the play with relatives, but that family cancelled due to illness. It appears Dr. Rimes then invited another Englewood dentist, Dr. Albert Oakey, and his daughters Lucile, 13, and Marian, 11. All three Oakeys died that day, also.

The relatives of the Rimes family who cancelled that day were Emma Francis, cousin of Bertha Rimes, and her children, Arthur (Art), 10, and Flora, 7, who had fallen ill. Husband/father John W. Francis had a dry goods establishment in Englewood called The Fair Store. It was a fixture in that community for many years. Emma’s great grandfather was Richard Bingle, who settled on the Ridge in 1842. John and Emma are buried in Mount Greenwood Cemetery.

Art and his family moved to Beverly. Linda Lamberty, RHS Historian, is Art’s granddaughter.

Said Linda, “I recently looked around at a large Christmas gathering of cousins descended from Aunt Flora and it hit me that, by falling ill and causing her mother, brother and herself to miss the play at the Iroquois theater, she saved all of our lives. Had the three of them attended, likely none of us descendants would be alive today.

“But the Oakeys then apparently used those tickets. There is the sobering thought that their descendants never had a chance to exist. Of course, it was not the fault of any of these people that the fire occurred. The dangerous conditions within the theater led to this tragedy.”

The next installments will share more connections to the Ridge.