The Electric Theater, built in 1911 with three-foot-thick adobe walls, was the first motion picture theater in southern Utah. It was also the first air-conditioned building in St. George. Willis Carrier invented refrigeration, or “chillers”, in 1922 and in 1925 began installing refrigeration in movie theaters across the United States. Home refrigeration did not become common until the 1960s, so movie theaters were often the first place people experienced what they called “comfort cooling.” Because theaters were often one of the only buildings with refrigeration, they became an especially popular…
