The more flexible interior space allowed the theater to host all sorts of events, including several roller skating contests in 1886. It was altered in 1901 to accommodate motion pictures, a new form of entertainment it was one of the first theaters to show. The following year, the wealthy residents of Tarrytown sponsored the first of several lavish annual flower shows. John D. Rockefeller often loaned palm trees grown in the greenhouses at Kykuit, his nearby estate, for use in sets. The original gas chandeliers were replaced with electric ones in 1910.