April 23, 1940, 71 years ago this weekend many from within our community gathered for an evening of joyful entertainment. Vicksburg native Walter Barnes was to perform at the Rhythm Club on Saint Catherine Street. Barnes and his swing band were considered to be the contemporaries of such musical talents as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and others from that era. In fact, documents indicate that the group was the house band at Al Capone’s Cotton Club in the Chicago area for many years.

This event took place during the great depression and many were seeking a release from the stress and strain of that period in American history. There was said to be more than 700 revelers attempting to gain access to the 38-foot by 120-foot tin building called the Rhythm Club.

The dance hall had been decorated with flowers and dangling Spanish moss. As the moss was often known to have small bugs within, it had been sprayed with flint, a petroleum based insecticide. Recent analysis also indicate that there also may have been a build up of methane gas in the rafters of the structure, as methane is a by-product produced when moss is baked, as it was by the sun’s rays upon the tin roof of the structure with the moss directly beneath it. As the music played tragedy struck.

A flash fire erupted and many were trapped inside as there was only one way in and out of the building. A total of 209 individuals lost their lives in what was the second most deadly structural fire in our nation’s history at the time.

Today we are all safer in public places as building and fire codes were changed or developed due to the sacrifices made by the 209 here in Natchez in 1940. The Worthy Women of Watkins Street Cemetery Association have struggled for many years to maintain the site of internment for many who perished in the fire so that they will never be forgotten nor the sacrifices which they made for us all.

For many years on the anniversary of the event the Natchez Business and Civic League has had a solemn wreath laying ceremony at the stone marker on the bluff which depicts the names of the 209. Monroe and Betty Sago have recently established the “Rhythm Club on Site Museum” on Saint Catherine Street. Documentary film maker Brian Burch of Digital Design House of Orlando, Fla., is presently circulating among film festival circuits with the most comprehensive film ever produced which tells the story of the Rhythm Club fire, as told by many from within our community.

As Easter weekend is considered a time of spiritual rebirth and renewal by many, you are invited to join in the remembrance of the 209. Commemorative events will begin at 10 a.m. with a memorial service by the Business and Civic League at 164 East Franklin St., followed immediately with the wreath lying on the bluff. A celebration of the lives of the 209 will feature remarks, food and entertainment at the Rhythm Club Museum at 5 Saint Catherine St. starting at 12:30 p.m. The day’s formal activities will conclude with the Natchez premier of the “Rhythm Night Club Fire” documentary at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center at 3 p.m. The video presentation is free; any contributions which you may offer will be donated toward the upkeep of the Watkins Street Cemetery.

On Saturday, pause and remember the 209.

Darrell White is the Natchez cultural heritage tourism and the Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American Museum.