AMERICAN THEATER    241 South Main Street    Opened: 1913    Closed: 1929

The American Theater was built in 1913, at 241 South Main Street, and opened its doors to the public on June 30th.

The new theater claimed to be the largest theater in the world devoted exclusively to the exhibition of motion pictures, and had a seating capacity of 3000.

Eight thousand cast plaster blocks were used to create the decorative scheme of the ceiling, and more than a thousand incandescent lights were used to light the interior.

An immense pipe organ was installed with a keyboard placed so that the organist could direct the eighteen piece orchestra.

One of the special features of the theater was the ventilating system, which fresh air was taken into a high stack and carried into a chamber beneath the stage where it was passed through an 'air-washer'. From that point the air was forced through pipes in the floor into a large chamber beneath the audience, where the air was released through small "mushrooms" under the seats.