Airdome (Rittersville)

The Rittersville neighborhood’s Central Park once housed Allentown’s first Airdome located east of downtown, opening on May 29, 1909 by its first manager W.D. Fitzgerald, featuring a variety of vaudeville, musical performances, and movies. Opening night features a concert by the Pioneer Band composed by Frank Troxell, with 10,000 electric lights dazzling above.

A lot of information about this Airdome goes as follows: The roofing is suspended 40ft above the heads of the spectators making it possible for the cool breezes to reach every seat in the auditorium. The drop curtain and draperies are painted by the Orpheum studio. The theater building itself is divided into three compartments, including a nursery and a hospital (nicknamed “sick room”). A wide balcony encircles the entire structure in the auditorium. A total of 100 iron benches were placed in the theater.

1. Miyanga, a senior member of a Japanese firm with headquarters in Kobe, Japan, helped construct the theater with various kinds of Japanese native goods, alongside J. Iwami being the local agent. There is also a miniature railroad for the kiddies with roadbed material. The laughing gallery occupies a choice site near the stage, measuring 76x55ft rising some 40ft from the ground. And finally, a number of games and amusement sites were also placed in the building. This was part of Central Park’s growing industry of late-1900s entertainment, which also includes a pool parlor and a bowling alley being placed nearby.

It originally housed 1,200 opera seats, but 800 more were added following an extensive improvement’s expansion by the Lehigh Valley Transit Company in March 1911, bringing a total to 2,000 seats. E.C. Spring of Easton was also its operator at the time, who took over as the head of the company’s traffic department.

On May 11, 1912, a second 1,000-seat Airdome opened near downtown Allentown, at the corner of 6th Street and Allen Street just north of downtown by former manager and owner of the Nickelet Theatre, C.A. Gwynne. The original Rittersville Airdome most likely closed just before that theater officially opened.

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