Amuse U Theatre
115 N. 6th Street,
Springfield,
IL
62701
115 N. 6th Street,
Springfield,
IL
62701
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The Amuse U, owned by my grandfather, was a small and very popular downtown movie house showing only silent movies. It was started February 22, 1913 and closed in June 1930 following a fire in the building.
Contributed by
Dan Weisman
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
dan post a pic if you have one…….
I just posted a photo that I took in May 2010. At that time, the building housed Abe’s Old Hat Antiques and Gifts.
do you have any pictures of the inside? i’d like to see what kind of lighting they used.
This opened on February 22, 1913.
February 23rd, 1913 ad in photo section.
The Amuse-U was one of eight movie theaters listed at Springfield in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory.
The Amuse-U did run talking pictures and this I found by looking at an old Springfield paper online. Apparently what might have caused its demise is that a fire broke out there in June 1930 and the theater suffered smoke damage. The damage cost an estimated $250 so about $14,000 in modern value. Perhaps the owner had no insurance and just closed the doors?