Dreamland Theatre

The Botzum Brothers opened their first theatre, the Dreamland Theatre, on January 21, 1910 in an existing building at 41 S. Main Street. It joined the Pastime Theatre which was across the street. The venue was an immediate hit and its location was so good that it would be joined by theatres both to its left and to its right. The silent-era theatre seated 400 and had no license to operate in its opening week. Once resolved, the Dreamland Theatre lasted almost twenty years. Its neighbor above was the Vendome Hotel.

The Waldorf Theatre opened in 1913 as its next door neighbor. It had started as a live theatre but then found legit business light and changed its policy to silent films. The busy movie block would also house the Bank Theatre in the 1910’s and Botzum’s Orpheum Theatre which lasted from the 1910’s to the 1950’s.

Even more daunting for the Dreamland Theatre was when the movie palace, the Keith-Albee Palace opened next door in 1926. The Dreamland Theatre’s position seemed more like a nightmare. Yet, the theatre – known for its flaming poster attractors – continued to the end of its leasing period on November 3, 1929. It closed just two months after the Dome Theatre, another long-running silent house in downtown Akron, had been closed and razed.

The former Dreamland Theatre was transformed shortly thereafter into a retail spot for Shulte-Huyler Co. which contained many penny arcade games, a cigar shop, and a confectionery. The building was also home to a long-running studio. The building was later demolished in 1996.

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