As a Rink Historian, there are a few theaters that were rinks before or after. Well, this one had John Wick’s Rink way before the American Theater was built ground up. And you might want to add that right next door was another theater. It was Grand Opera House and in fact, was seen in that photo above. Funny thing, after Grand Opera House that was opened in October 1893, they closed in 1905 to convert into roller rink. Then close sometimes short after and became many things in that 3 story building.
One more thing, the American Theater was actually operating before the fire in May 1950, they had to demolish the damaged building but kept the ground floor section of the building. It was a three-story building for the original theater. After the fire, the renovations occurred just keeping ground floor and named it the New American Theater. Then later, demolished and became a parking lot.
As a Roller Rink and Commercial Archeology Historian, This very park began as a roller rink in 1924, 2 years later, they added a swimming pool. I have much longer and larger detail about 10 pages long but I can say this singular drive-in screen theater was operational from 1947 to October 1968 because of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used Eminent Domain taking over to built a new highway but they never did. They auctioned off that month. They even tried to give land back to the operator of the park. So, evidently they shut down everything but not the roller rink. The rink operated until 30th of April 1972 when the fire department who owned the rink did a control burn for fire drill practices and that evidently completely ended the park. The shopping center is there now after they built it in 1994. The original operator went bankrupt in 1928-29 because of a storm flooding (hurricane went thru) and Great Depression. Then new owners bought it in 1943 and this is why they rebooted the park and added the drive in on the southern part of the land. The PennDOT did not finish the highway and was abandoned. The park began with a rink, ended with the rink alone.
As a Rink Historian, there are a few theaters that were rinks before or after. Well, this one had John Wick’s Rink way before the American Theater was built ground up. And you might want to add that right next door was another theater. It was Grand Opera House and in fact, was seen in that photo above. Funny thing, after Grand Opera House that was opened in October 1893, they closed in 1905 to convert into roller rink. Then close sometimes short after and became many things in that 3 story building.
One more thing, the American Theater was actually operating before the fire in May 1950, they had to demolish the damaged building but kept the ground floor section of the building. It was a three-story building for the original theater. After the fire, the renovations occurred just keeping ground floor and named it the New American Theater. Then later, demolished and became a parking lot.
As a Roller Rink and Commercial Archeology Historian, This very park began as a roller rink in 1924, 2 years later, they added a swimming pool. I have much longer and larger detail about 10 pages long but I can say this singular drive-in screen theater was operational from 1947 to October 1968 because of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used Eminent Domain taking over to built a new highway but they never did. They auctioned off that month. They even tried to give land back to the operator of the park. So, evidently they shut down everything but not the roller rink. The rink operated until 30th of April 1972 when the fire department who owned the rink did a control burn for fire drill practices and that evidently completely ended the park. The shopping center is there now after they built it in 1994. The original operator went bankrupt in 1928-29 because of a storm flooding (hurricane went thru) and Great Depression. Then new owners bought it in 1943 and this is why they rebooted the park and added the drive in on the southern part of the land. The PennDOT did not finish the highway and was abandoned. The park began with a rink, ended with the rink alone.