Edisonia Hall facts for kids
Edisonia Hall was a special name for places where people could see the amazing inventions from Thomas Alva Edison's company. These halls showed off cool new machines like the phonograph (which played sound), the Vitascope (an early movie projector), and the Kinetoscope (a device for viewing moving pictures).
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What Was Edisonia Hall?
Edisonia Hall was not just one building. It was a general name for different exhibition spaces. These spaces were set up to show the public the latest technologies. All these technologies came from the famous inventor Thomas Edison and his company.
Early Inventions on Display
Imagine a time before TVs or smartphones. Edison's inventions were truly groundbreaking.
- The phonograph let people hear recorded sounds for the first time.
- The Kinetoscope allowed one person at a time to watch short films.
- The Vitascope was a projector. It could show movies to a whole audience on a big screen.
The First Movie Theater in Buffalo
A very important Edisonia Hall opened in Buffalo, New York. It was started by two brothers, Mitchell Mark and Moe Mark. This special hall opened on October 19, 1896. It was located inside the Ellicott Square Building.
A World First
This Edisonia Hall in Buffalo was unique. It had a special section called the Vitascope Theater. This was the first known theater ever built just for showing movies. It was designed specifically for people to sit and watch films projected onto a screen. Newspapers at the time called it the Vitascope Theater, Vitascope Hall, or even the Electrical Theater.
Movies and Visitors
The first movies shown at this theater were mostly "Lumiere Films." These films came from the famous French filmmakers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. They were obtained through a company called Pathe Freres.
A Popular Spot
This early movie theater was very popular. In its first year alone, more than 200,000 people came to watch the moving pictures. The theater stayed open for almost two years. This was much longer than other early movie theaters of that time. Its historical importance was confirmed in a 2007 article by Mark Sommer in the Buffalo News.
