Silver Hill Theatre

The Oshkosh Opera House was built in 1906, the town’s second opera house. Silent motion pictures were shown sporadically. In 1923, the films proved more popular and the opera house became the Silver Hill Theatre. It was run by Mrs. Oscar A. Jensen from 1926 to 1954.

Jensen equipped the theatre for sound in 1931 which she dubbed, “The House of Good Sound” trying to draw patrons away from the silent theatre in Broadwater. The town got competition from the Oshkosh Drive-In Theatre which launched in 1953.

Mrs. Jensen sold the Silver Hill Theatre to Charles Greenlee in 1954. In October of 1954, Greenlee had refreshed the Silver Hill Theatre including a switch to widescreen projection to exhibit CinemaScope films.

The Jensen family reacquired the Silver Hill Theatre and then took on the local drive-in which had closed. They operated the Silver Hill Theatre beginning in 1961 as a partial year operation and reopened the drive-in in the warm months.

The drive-in appears to have closed after the 1972 season. As of the 2020’s, the indoor theatre is home to the Silver Spring Theater Museum in downtown Oshkosh.

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