Pittsburgh’s Starring Role in Cinema History

We know that Pittsburgh is a hot spot for filming movies, but our city actually played a prominent role in the early days of cinema. On June 19, 1905, the county’s first all-motion picture house, the “Nickelodeon,” was opened at 433-35 Smithfield Street in Downtown by Harry Davis and John P. Harris.

According to the History Channel, 450 people attended opening day showings of two short films, "Poor but Honest" and "The Baffled Burglar.” The theater charged patrons five cents, which is how it got the name Nickelodeon — the admission cost combined with the Greek word for “theater.”

Now all you Rugrats fans know where your old favorite TV-channel name came from!