Chillicothe’s Open-Air Theater
Oct 31, 2023 10:56AM ● By Gary Fyke
The Chillicothe Optimist’s Club has a jewel of a movie theater! I was a member of the Club and am proud to say I helped the Club purchase the facility in 2009. My part was simply that of a member joining with everyone to support the proposal as presented by Irv Latta. He was the “front man” of the committee who saw the opportunity to save the theater from an unpleasant demise. I was reminded of that activity a few evenings ago as I drove up 2nd Street on my way to the Post Office drop box. It was shortly after dark and I was amazed at the brilliant flashing marquee awning lights of the Town Theatre. The storefronts of all the buildings in the block seemed to be part of the “lightshow.” I recalled the efforts of so many people working to keep the Town Theatre lights from going dim.
As I went back past the building it reminded me of the history of movie houses and theaters I had researched back when we worked on that project. The first movie house in Chillicothe opened one hundred and fifteen years ago in what we know as the Bacon Building. It had seating for 200 people and employed a piano player to provide background music during the silent black and white short movies. On Friday nights, besides the “flickering” 30–40-minute movies, the owners presented films of major prizefighting events that were very popular at the time. The house had a stage with a curtain to cover the screen until the movie began just as was in the two opera houses that existed in Chillicothe at the time.
The two opera houses were the Matthews Opera House where the Little Shop of Hoarders is located today and Dan Kelly’s Opera House on the same location as the Town Theatre. Kelly’s Opera House was different because the building was the only three-story building in Chillicothe. The ground floor was a retail department store operated by Kelly, but for a few years was the World Department Store of M.C. Kelly, Dan’s father. M.C. Kelly’s store had been on the corner of 2nd and Chestnut across from City Park. That building burned and M.C. Kelly moved to Dan’s location until a new department store building was constructed.
Dan Kelly was quite a promoter and brought many professional acting troupes to Chillicothe. He decided to create a new venture for the community in 1908. He built an Open-Air Theater. Dan constructed the theater on vacant land at 2nd and Chestnut. He enclosed a 75 x 95-foot area with a ten-foot-high board fence. Coming attraction posters were pasted on the exterior of the fence similar to circus advertising. A 30-foot-wide stage was constructed along with seating for 1,000. Kelly named it the “Airdrome.” The Historical Society has an insurance risk map that shows Kelly added two buildings to house dressing rooms and stage equipment. A notice in the Chillicothe Bulletin reported that Kelly presented a Troupe on July 4, 1908, but closed the Airdrome after one performance because “the troupe was not up to standard.” It is not clear how long Kelly operated the “Airdrome” but there are passing comments in the Bulletin of several different shows and performances at Kelly’s, but they do not specify whether they were at the opera house or the Airdrome.