Light fixtures at the Iroquois theater, excluding those used on the stage, were supplied by manufacturer and wholesaler, T. W. Wilmarth Company.   Wilmarth also supplied fixtures for several other Klaw & Erlanger theaters, in Chicago and around the Midwest.  Sconce lights and Etruscan crystal bowl electroliers can be seen in interior photographs.

The president of Wilmarth, Joseph H. Dimery, was a personal friend of Will J. Davis, Iroquois manager.  Dimery served as an auctioneer at the promotional ticket sale auction in mid November before the theater's grand opening.   He and Davis were fellow members of the Chicago Athletic Club.  Dimery and his wife were in a party who in 1909 visited Davis at his Crown Point farm, Willowdale, to attend the Cobe Trophy Cup auto race in Crown Point (see photo below). Others in the group were attorney, Levy Mayer, novelist/playwright Marjorie Benton Cooke and light opera contralto, Kate Condon.

Dimery attended Mr Bluebeard matinee

Dimery surely attended the November 23, 1903 Iroquois grand opening and must have liked the show because he saw it again the afternoon of the fire.  He survived and testified at fire attorney Fulkerson's hearing two days after the fire.  He sat on the first floor in the parquet, far enough south that he did not see the first flames.  In court he spoke of trying to reassure people sitting in the nearby box seat.  He remained in the theater long enough to see the problems in lowering the fire curtain and spoke of the draft that blew into the auditorium when the stage door was opened as being strong enough to nearly knock him over.  He was the only one who emphasized the strength of the draft but the reason soon became clear: Iroquois management thought the draft exonerated them. Old man Joe was helping out Old man Will. 

In his testimony Dimery did not refer to anyone else in his party at the Iroquois so it is not known if his wife, Sarah, also attended. 

Joseph Dimery (1859-1928) immigrated from England in 1879.  He was the son of George and Mary Dimery. He married Sarah Emily Austin (1864-1920) in 1888.  Sarah went by her middle name, probably to avoid confusion with her mother, also named Sarah.  Emily was the daughter of New York natives, Judge Peter B. Austin and Sarah Lyons Austin.  Peter was a judge in Detroit.  Emily's brother, Al Austin, operated a trendy Chicago restaurant for many years in the early 1900s.  Joseph and Emily had no children that survived.  Two daughters died in infancy in 1888 and 1889.

Joseph Dimery stepped down as president sometime before 1913 but was still working as a sales representative until at least 1920.  I failed to learn what became of the Wilmarth lighting company.  The last reference I found was in 1943.

Wilmarth history

As a young man in 1856, Henry Wilmarth went to work as a bookkeeper for the Gerould Brothers gas fixtures company. When the Gerould brothers died, he became the manager and eventually purchased the company. His brother, Thomas W. Wilmarth, joined the business and at Henry's death the company was renamed, T. W. Wilmarth.  By 1903 none of the Wilmarth family remained associated with the company but the name remained, probably because it was synonymous with light fixtures in Chicago and in various industries including hotels, public buildings and theaters.

Chicago City Club contract

In 1912 Wilmarth won a contract to supply light fixtures to the six-story, eight-year-old City Club on Plymouth Court in Chicago (picture above), designed by Pond and Pond.  Included in the project were 350 lamps. The Commonwealth Edison company supplied direct current for the building --  powering, in addition to lighting, three elevators and two dumb-waiters. A trade magazine reported that the facility was equipped with outlets for table lamps and vacuum cleaners, with special "cut outs" for stereopticons in the two lounges. Stereopticons projectors were used for glass slide presentations and are also known as "magic lanterns." Not sure what a "cut out" is but since the story appeared in an electrical trade publication, it may have referred to a separate circuit. Stereopticon projectors used high powered bulbs and may have gobbled more than their fair share of power.  It is interesting that as late as 1912, wall outlets for table lamps were novel enough to merit particular mention in a magazine read by electricians.

The Dimerys joined Will J. Davis, for the 23.3-mile June, 1909 Cobe Trophy Cup race in Crown Point, Indiana, two months before the first Indianapolis 500.  Pictured is Joe Matson driving his Chalmers-Detroit racer to a win on the first day of the race.  Three years later he won the Indy 500.  In Crown Point Matson did ten laps, averaging 52.2 mph.  Louis Chevrolet of France was the winner on the second day, with a Buick that averaged 49.26 mph.

For all that Joe Dimery looks like the bookkeeper he was at the beginning of his career, 1900-1910 Chicago newspapers suggested a fellow that was enjoying life.  There were several stories of jovial exploits of fraternal organizations involving Dimery and, usually, Will J. Davis.  

Story 2637

Ella Dubois made her 2nd solo trip to the theater