Electric Theatre

This theatre was located in an old two-story brick building on a now vanished block of downtown. The structure, which faced onto both sides of the block, was built in 1887 as the Oriel Block, which it indeed had two of, on the south face at least. Later maps show it as the Dodge House Hotel.

By 1911, movies were being shown in the western half of the building. It is listed in the 1914-15 AMPD at 117, but all the maps show this as 115. The theatre was still in operation in 1918, but by 1926 this space had been split into an office on the south end, and a store on the north.

The historical address was 115 W. Chestnut Street, possibly also with an entry at 114 North Front Street. During a moronic urban ‘renewal’ project around 1970, at least 5 blocks lying between Chestnut and North Front (there was also a South Front across the tracks) were destroyed to drive a four lane road (with only two pedestrian crossings) through town, and create a wasteland of surface parking. North and South Front both vanished, and Chestnut was renamed Front.

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