Airdome Theatre

The Airdome Theatre is one of the last motion picture airdomes to be built in Florida, opening on December 31, 1924 with Jean Paige in “Captain Blood” with music conducted by the Airdome Orchestra during and before the show.

With a 2,000-seat capacity, the open-air theater itself is located near the coast of Tampa Bay and features the special touches of palms and flowers surrounding it giving a site of a unique appearance, alongside a high concrete wall that surrounds the park. There is only a single entrance and two exits, and featured a soda fountain located near the entrance of the theater.

The Airdome would later become very notable for an unexpectedly tragedy. On April 22, 1925 at approximately 8:15 PM ET, over 400 attendees (most of them women and children) were attending to watch Elaine Hammerstein in “After Business Hours” when all of the sudden, extreme heavy wind gusts forced the large screen to topple and landing face-forward, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other children. The 14-year-old, Victor Bushey of St. Petersburg, was killed when the heavy silversheet screen fell on him crushing his skull. He was rushed to the Mound Park Hospital where he was pronounced dead after arrival. One of the four children injured is an 8-year-old girl from St. Louis, Missouri, who suffered a broken thigh and several minor injuries. She was immediately rushed back to the Royal Palm Hotel for treatment. Another one of the four injured is 12-year-old J.C. Dean, the son of then-officer C.E. Dean of the St. Petersburg Police Department.

Exactly one month later, the father of Bushey notified the city commission of his intention o file a suit for $10,000 in damage as a result of the death of the 14-year-old. Members of the commission did not believe that the city was liable since there was no ordinanee calling for inspection of such a structure as a theater screen as it was neither a building nor a marquee. After two days of investigation, it was confirmed that the strong wind gust blew the screen.

A new screen was built, and the Airdome reopened in June 1925. This continued to last for another two additional years until it closed after the 1927 season.

On March 3, 1928, plans of an airport inside the Airdome were in place, but was ultimately scrapped. The city has appropriated $8,000 for the construction but the work for the airport was held in abeyance pending decision on a new 5-year lease offered by two men named Fuller and Piper on the consideration that a permanent hangar be erected. There is some difficulty in clearing the title is at present the inly barrier to this acquisition which will definitely place the city on the air map as a city with facilities to store, repair, and otherwise service airplanes on all types. The planned airport came into an idea during the last week of February 1928 when they participated in the first annual air meet held under auspices of the Aero Club and was underwritten by the city’s commission. A total of 28 planes were present for the tournament which received nationwide recognition through news services and even newsreel cameras when Mrs. Catherine Fenton, a 104-year-old queen of the Three-Quarter Century Club, took her first and only airplane ride with George Halderman, a valiant but an unsuccessful Trans-Atlantic flyer. When the airport, known as the Albert Whitted Airport, began construction in October 1928, it was built several streets away which was built a little far from the Airdome building.

On the afternoon of January 10, 1929, the April 23, 1925 screen collapse went into trial led by Judge Orvil L. Dayton. The then-attorney for St. Petersburg, Raney Martin, represented the city while James W. Booth and John Dikinson appeared for the complainants. The case didn’t last long, and less than 48 hours later, the case arguments were filed.

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