Springfield’s second movie theater opened in late 1908, and moved a few months later to a new building at 320 Main St. The owner/operator was J.J. (Joseph) Bryan, who also ran the Grand and the Bell in Springfield, as well as the Aloha, Folly, Savoy, and Oregon theaters in Eugene. The Eugene Daily Guard newspaper referred to the new theater as a nickelodian [sic], although it is unclear how many seats the theater had and what it charged for admission.
Among its promotional strategies, the Electric hosted a beautiful baby contest to attract families to the theater. Bryan also showed fight films, such as the Jack Johnson-Stanley Ketchel boxing match in 1910. Like many theaters at this time, the Electric presented traveling vaudeville shows along with its film programming.
