The fire killed 72 people, including Virginia's governor George William Smith, former U.S. senator Abraham B. Venable, and other government officials in what was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time.

[5] The Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences of the United States was founded by Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire.

The benefit originally had been scheduled for December 23, but was postponed due to the death of Eliza Poe (one of the company's players), Placide's own illness, and foul weather.

[12] It being Christmas time and the last opening of the season, the auditorium on December 26 was packed with an excited audience of 598 people,[13] with 518 adults and 80 children to view the pantomime, which commenced immediately after the play was finished.

The fire started after the curtain fell following the first act of the pantomime, when the chandelier was lifted toward the ceiling with the flame still lit.

The lamp became entangled in the cords used to lift the chandelier and it touched one of the items used in the front scenes, which caught fire.

In addition to the hangings were also the borders that provided the outlines of buildings and skies, among other set pieces; these, too, caught fire sequentially.

The editor of the Richmond Standard, present at the scene, urged people to jump; he, with help from many others on the ground, then heroically saved the lives of many of those who chose to do so.

[2] Also credited with heroism was Gilbert Hunt, a former slave who, having purchased his freedom, was working as a blacksmith at a shop near the theatre.

Along with Dr. James McCaw, a physician who was attending the theatre that evening, Hunt was credited with saving close to a dozen people.

[17] A book, entitled Gilbert Hunt, the City Blacksmith, later was published in his honor and to provide financial assistance for him in his old age.

[18] It has been claimed that Revolutionary War hero Peter Francisco saved over thirty people from the theater during the fire, having been in attendance at the performance.

[27] George Tucker, who became the University of Virginia's first Professor of Moral Philosophy, narrowly escaped with his life after being struck in the head by a timber which left a permanent scar.

The marble monument in the form of an urn erected at the church contains the names of 72 victims of the fire, inscribed on its four cardinal faces.

In 2006, regular tours began, in cooperation with the Valentine Richmond History Center's Court End Passport.

[39] Lydia Sigourney give an account of the disaster in her poem The Anniversary of the Destruction of the Richmond Theatre., published in her first volume of poetry in 1815.