The Webster Amusement Company

A early entertainment destination in Webster

by Carol Saylor

Sawyer’s Hall, built by the five Sawyer brothers — Alfred, George, Wilfred, Lester and Roy — opened in 1909 and became the home of The Webster Amusement Co.

Located at 31 North Ave., Beyond Cuts Hair Salon now occupies the space (but not the original building) in the village of Webster.

In the beginning, the Webster Amusement Co. showed movies and featured a roller skating rink.

Young and old visited the popular business, which led to the enlargement of the building the following year. (The photo here includes the addition to the original building.) The expanded building provided a larger skating area on the first floor.

Two bowling alleys and tables for billiards also were added and located in the basement. Electricity, just available in Webster, enabled the purchase of a Wurlitzer Band Organ. The mechanical organ played music from a paper roll (much like a piano roll) and added to the skating experience.

Movies, skating parties and sports activities used the same space. Chairs were removed and folded when a skating time or a basketball game was scheduled.

The movies were silent. A piano score was provided along with the film. Susie Wright Jones, Florence Northrup and Marion Sawyer Kelley played the piano. An old theater organ from the building may be seen at the Webster Museum.

The film machine was hand-cranked and consisted of several reels of film. Most of the movies were two reels in length, but a movie titled Tommy Gets His Sister Married was six reels long. During the time the reels were being changed, there was community singing by the movie-goers and local advertising on the screen. Serial movies, such as The Perils of Pauline, were shown on a weekly basis.

“News Reels” of the time were hand-written on glass slides. Sawyer’s Hall used a lantern slide projector. Many of the glass slides used between 1917 and 1919 encouraged movie-goers to purchase Liberty and Freedom Bonds to help finance America’s involvement in World War I.

From 1915 through 1925, the Webster High School basketball team played its games at Sawyer’s Hall. By that time, a balcony had been added to the hall. The balcony provided a good view of the game (except when play occurred beneath the balcony). The building was used as gym space for the high school students until the new high school (now Spry Middle School) was built on South Avenue.

The Sawyer family sold the building to Nick Markese in 1951, who operated the business as the Webster Bowling Hall. A roaring fire and flames, which engulfed several nearby buildings and threatened all of the eastern part of the village, destroyed the bowling hall on a windy night in November 1952.

Twenty-nine units of fire equipment from 13 companies worked through the night to prevent the fire from spreading. Because of their efforts, only minor damage occurred in many nearby homes and business locations. However, Sawyer Hall and the Webster Amusement Co. were gone forever.

A look at the history of the toys and games that have helped shape how we play.

The Webster Walkabout Adventure Lab

The Webster Walkabout Adventure Lab will take you on a walking tour of some of the historical locations in the Village of Webster. This adventure is kid-friendly and handicap-accessible. Please stay on sidewalks throughout your journey.

You will be guided on a walking tour of the Village of Webster, NY, visiting five sites of historic significance to the founding of the Village of Webster. Your walking tour will take you on a 1.5 mile walk and will take about an hour to complete.

In order to play the Adventure Lab, you need a smart phone, with the Adventure Lab mobile app installed. The app works with both iOS (iPhones) and Android phones. You must have a free account on geocaching.com and you must also have a data plan and cell service. The Adventure Lab mobile app is a multi-media, interactive app.

To open this adventure in the Adventure Lab mobile app, use the following URL: labs.geocaching.com/goto/WEBSTER

Once you complete the Adventure Lab, you will be given a code to unlock a special bonus puzzle geocache located at the Webster Museum, located at 18 Lapham Park, Webster, NY.

To find out more about geocaching, go to www.geocaching.com

A Virtual Tour

With Doreen and Laureen from the Webster Public Library and Sharon Pratt of the Webster Museum.

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