This structure was the city’s most important building connected to the history of motion pictures. Essanay produced hundreds of early movies featuring stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, and cinema’s first cowboy hero, G.M. “Bronco Billy” Anderson. Changes in the movie industry led to the company’s collapse in 1917, and the terra-cotta Indian heads flanking the entrance were Essanay’s trademarks.
