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Mishler Theatre after the fire, Altoona, PA, November, 1906.
Credit: Courtesy of the Blair County Historical Society
Despite its construction with modern safety features that included twenty exits, sprinklers, and a fire-proof curtain, the Mishler Theatre burned down just nine months after it opened, when high winds swept a fire from an adjacent building into the belly of the theater. Undaunted, Mishler soon rebuilt the theater, which reopened only a few months later.