Armo Skydome
3192 Morganford Road,
St. Louis,
MO
63116
3192 Morganford Road,
St. Louis,
MO
63116
2 people
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The Armo Airdome launched on June 13, 1936 with “Follow the Fleet” and “Wanderer of the Wasteland.” Within two weeks, it was renamed the Armo Skydome - a name it kept thoughout the next 16 years closing for the season on September 2, 1952 with “An American in Paris” and “Invitation.” It was demolished and replaced by a Cook’s Department Store.
The Armo Airdome launched on June 13, 1936 with “Follow the Fleet” and “Wanderer of the Wasteland.”
Hey James Grebe! I lived at 4024 Connecticut thoughout the 80’s, raised by my grandparents. They bought the house sometime in the mid to late 50’s, I believe, and owned it up to about a year ago. Bill and Nelda Holland, were there names.
The new picture of the Armo is courtesy of der251, whose aunt took the photo. I scanned it and uploaded it to the website. Thanks to der251 for preserving this piece of history.
I just found this site, after telling my kids about going to the Armo, I searched on Google, and here it is! I lived in the 4100 block of Utah, and went to the Armo frequently in the 50’s. I loved the fact it changed movies every 3 or 4 days, so we went a lot. I remember seeing “The Thing” and it scared me to death, and I had to walk home in the dark!
I would love to see the picture of the Armo, so I will email der251 and offer to scan the picture.
Do you remember the outdoor theater next to the Princess on Gravois and Pestalozzi?
Cook’s Market ; Reggie!
I still have the picture of the front of the ARMO Skydome. If someone smarter than I can scan the picture and replace the one above, I will send them a copy. You can email me at
Joe
Looks like I haven’t checked this site for quite some time.
my email is I still have the photo my aunt took.
It was from across the street in the winter time, you can see snow on the ground. If you email me we can make an arrangement to get you the photo. I will try again to get the photo on this site.
Did the Holtzmann’s live in the 4300 block of Fyler?
Joe
My grandparents owned the Armo. They lived next to the Wehrenbergs at Lindbergh and Lincoln. My grandfather, Carl Holtzmann passed away in 1941. My grandmother ran it for a few years, before selling it. The family would love to have a copy of a photo, if anyone has one. I was unable to contact usscamp who said that he had one. Any help or additional info would be greatly appreciated.
I lived down on Alfred Ave. and attended the ARMO. I remember the price as 10 cents, and if you gave them 6 RC bottle caps, you got a ticket for a free cup of RC Cola. The floor was pea gravel and I believe the seats were wood individual fold down type. Just before the movie started, an usher would walk up on stage and pull back large panels on both sides of the screen which protected the speakers from the weather. The building right next to the north was a bakery with an upstairs apartment. I remember that everytime I was at the ARMO, the woman who lived upstairs was out on her back porch sitting in a lawn chair watching the movie for free.The Cook
market building has been redone and is like a small strip mall and extends all the way over to what used to be Becktolds market, the bakery is gone. The last movie I saw there was “The Creature from
the Black Lagoon”. I was 6 years old, it scared me half to death.
It was on one of the movie channels last year when I was surfin
around, so i watched a few minutes, this time I almost laughed
myself half to death.
If you guyshaven’t been down on Morgenford lately, it’s coming back to life with restaurants, grocery stores, furniture stores and other shops, and the neighbor hood is generally coming back slowly, the homes being rehabbed,etc.
Mike46
D. Snow…Thanks for the info. I was with my aunt today who took the picture of the full front of the Armo Skydome. She told me ARMO was and abriveation of Arsenal & Morganford, thus, ARMO. She took the picture from across the street with her box camera. The photo is black & white. I went to Wallgreens and had it enlarged to 4x6.
I just tried to place the photo on this web-site, however they stated there were 3500 photos pending and they were working on a new system to accomodate everyone at a later date.
James, 1964 to 1968 I was on the St. Louis, Police dept. 3rd district. I rode your old area, Lafayette to lami, 12 to the river.
These names ring a bell. Roberts brothers, Chamber brothers, Mask brothers….rough crowd. Joe
Hi,
I used to live at 4027 Conneticut in the 60’s. Born and raised in Soulard, 815 Geyer and before that 2002 A S. Broadway.
Jim
James, I’m trying to get the original from my aunt. When I do so tomorrow, I’ll see what I can do.
James, are you from that neighborhood? Holy Family was the parish.
Joe,
You could send it as an attachment to an email to me
In a rain you could use an umbrella, however if there was thunder or lighting, they would stop the movie. You would then receive a raincheck for another movie date if the rain persisted.
The photo I have is a copy from a copier. My aunt sent it to me, I will ask her for the original and try to figure a way to put it on this web-site. My son in law is a web site developer and I’m sure he can figure it out. …..Joe
I would lovge to see the pic you spoke about.
James Grebe
Yes, it was a permanent outdoor screen similar to a drive-in.
However it was about half the size. That also was a way we would sneak in from behind the screen. The back of the skydome or behind the screen was an alley that ran from Wyoming to Connecticut.
On the corner of Connecticut and Morganford was O'Neals drug and soda fountain. …..Joe
I grew up in the Morganford & Humphrey area in the 40’s & 50’s.
I went to the armo show many times. I remember the wooden slat seats sat on pea gravel. It seated about 200 or more. I recall a childs admission was 15 cents. Sometimes you could get in for 6 Royal Crown bottle caps. The movies changed once a weel on Friday. If we didn’t have the 15 cents, my freinds and I would climb over the side wall.
Another trick was to tell the manager that I had to get my brother to take him home, once inside I would hide from the manager. Sometimes I think he knew the trick and just let me stay.
I have a photo of the front of the Armo Skydome.
I can name just about every store from Fyler to Arsenal, I loved that neighborhood. Someone told me Armo was short for Arsenal Morganford? If you have any memories, let me know…..Joe
According to an article I found in an old St. Louis newspaper, the Wehrenberg chain initially planned to build an indoor theater at this site, but downgraded it to an airdome before construction began.
Yes, the old Cooks store sits on the site.
JamesGrebe