It sounds like something out of old movies about the Mob: a series of bombings, clearly intended to send a message. But it happened for real in Springfield in the early 1930s. And while it wasn’t the movies, movie theaters were at the heart of the violence.
In the fall of 1931, the Movie Theater Operators union went on strike against several downtown Springfield theaters. Soon after, trouble started. In mid-September, two sticks of dynamite were found inside the Capitol Theater on East Washington Street. The theater’s owner viewed it as a warning, but didn’t report it to police. Then on September 27th, a second bomb did go off at the Capitol Theater in the middle of the night. No one was hurt, but it caused $1,000 damage.
More incidents followed… stink bombs in two theaters… then a bombing at the Strand Theater in December, and an explosion at a theater manager’s home the next February. But unlike most movies, the bombings were never solved and the bad guys were not brought to justice.
Learn more about this turbulent era in Springfield at SangamonLink, the official blog of the Sangamon County Historical Society, and get more Springfield history here each week in the Springfield History Minute.
