Airdome

Joe Vogel on September 29, 2023 at 7:56 pm

The September 12, 1913 issue of Variety had this item mentioning the Airdome:

“OUT OF AIRDOME.

“Dubuque, Ia., Sept. 11. After a season of eighteen weeks, the James S. Garside stock company closes at the Airdome next Saturday night. The company goes from here to Paducah, Ky., for a winter stay. The Airdome business was the biggest recorded in five years.”

Dubuque’s Airdome is mentioned in other national theatrical publications as well as Variety (New York Clipper and The New York Dramatic Mirror.) So far I’ve found it only in issues published from 1909 to 1913. It might be that it stopped booking the national acts that these publications followed, or it might have closed, or perhaps converted mostly to movies, though if the latter it didn’t get listed in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. If it closed down permanently after the 1913 season, which seems likely, at least it went out on a high note.