Not
long after "W.
W. " Bell and his partners in The Pittsburg
Amusement Company built the La
Belle Theatre at the
northeast corner of Fourth and Locust in 1904, he joined
forces with another group of men and built the Lyric
Theatre on the northwest corner of Ninth & Broadway.
In 1906, he sold his interest in the La Belle and
concentrated on the Lyric
Theatre. In 1907, he bought
out the other investors in the Lyric. In about 1910
he changed its name to the Airdome Theatre, and enlarged
the stage and seating area. As you can see from
the fire insurance map of 1913 below, the stage was
located on the west end of the property with enclosed
seating in a u-shape on the east end. According to
Bell's obituary, he is credited with coining the term "Airdome." In
1914, Bell opened up the Airdome's sister theatre,
the Bungalow at Euclid & Broadway, which showed
moving pictures. The Airdome was open till about 1915.
There was another
theatre in Pittsburg called the Airdome. It
was supposed to be built in 1920 on the northwest corner
of Tenth & Broadway., by the Dubinsky Brother's
of Chicago who controlled a large part of the vaudeville
circut in the midwest. However, since the local investors
were from Frontenac, it was ended up being built in Frontenac
and was called the Dubinsky Bro's Frontenac Airdome. |
