Introduction

This project began in the summer of 2017 when The Downtown Committee asked The Syracuse International Film Festival if they could arrange a history tour of the downtown movie theaters, past and present.  The assignment fell unto me.  I remembered many of the downtown theaters and had heard about others that preceded my theater-going time.

I went into research on the subject and was amazed to find out just how many movie theaters had existed downtown (mostly along South Salina St. in the 20th Century).  I identified 23, ranging from early Nicholsons to vaudeville shows, silent movies and “talkies”. 

I asked Geoff Stephenson to assist me with this.  Between the two of us, we created a most interesting document.  The tour was such a success that we scheduled a second one.

I enjoyed assembling the information so much that I decided to expand the history to all the downtown buildings.  I outlined the areas that I wanted to identify and labeled them chapters.  I started with the first buildings constructed about 1800 and everything that followed for the next 220 years. I had a good knowledge of the history of some of them but I had no idea how much information there was. The information was overwhelming but fascinating.  I collected photos and copy from old newspaper articles, books, Wikipedia, Facebook, and wherever else I could find it. I most enjoyed having to identify where an unidentified building was. Many locations had as many as three buildings built on at the site. One following another, as one either burned or was demolished, making way for a new structure. 

This book is filled with photos, texts, and maps.  I tried to include a current photo of each location mentioned. Again, as with The Movie Tour, Geoff Steveson was a tremendous help with this, especially with the maps.

I would love to have this published, but that is not my immediate objective.  It would take a considerate amount of time to list all the attributions and credits. What I want to do is to share the book with all those who have an interest in it.  It is available in pdf form for reading and in Word form for changes.

I am sure that I have made mistakes and omissions.  I am open to discussion,  criticisms, corrections, modifications and additions.  For me, it’s not important to be right but to get it right.