Gilmore's Opera House, Springfield, MA
The Capitol was originally built as the Gilmore Opera House in 1857! It burnt down in 1864, remodelled and reopened in 1865. In April, 1920, it became the Capitol Theater. It had a balcony with a total of 1,450 seats. A prosenium arch curved around the stage/screen and to the right of it, in a wall niche, was a 2,500 pipe Austin organ that was played during it’s silent movie days. The exterior front had a long marquee with narrow title space on the front. Two verticle signs spelling Capitol hung on the building above either side of the marquee.