Pastime Theater

The Pastime Theater was an early nickelodeon-era venue in a busy two block stretch in downtown Akron. It opened on March 20, 1909 with motion pictures, illustrated songs and programming that welcomed both women and children. Admission was a nickel. The Pastime Theater competed with the Star Theatre, the National Theatre, the Luna Theatre, the Happy Hour Theatre and the Colonial Theatre. It was located at the northwest corner of Main Street and Mill Street in the existing Akron Savings Bank that was opened in 1890 and went bust in the Depression of 1893.

Fred H. Schumacher operated the Pastime Theater with the positioning statement of, “We show ‘em first” to highlight the freshness of the films content. The theater would also install a Wurlitzer Photoplayer in 1911. The venue was joined by the Waldorf Theatre across the street under the same management. The Pastime Theater fell into disuse in 1915 and the Wurlitzer was auctioned off due to non-payment of the mortgage. The multipurpose building was also the long-running home to Federman’s Furniture Store that was razed in 1959 along with the neighboring Synder and Curley Buildings (built in 1895) following a salvage sale. The demolition projects were part of a high profile and well coordinated $20 million redevelopment of downtown Akron called “Action in Akron.” That renewal plan also took down the famed Quaker Oats Building on the same day that the Curley and former Pastime locations fell.

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