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Entrance to the Harris nickelodeon, Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh, PA., 1919.
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Image of the entrance of the Nickelodeon Theater.

Credit: Courtesy of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

In 1905, Harry Davis and John P. Harris converted a storeroom into the world's first theater devoted exclusively to moving pictures. They called it a Nickelodeon, combining the price of admission–a nickel– with "Odeon" the ancient Greek name for theater. Running short films from 8am until midnight, the theater served as many as 7,000 patrons a day.

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