Pender Opera House

The Warrington Opera House launched on October 10, 1891 by John Dillon and J.B. Warrington. By the 1900’s, the venue’s name was more commonly referred to as the Pender Opera House though the Warrington name was still used after his departure. The venue experimented with traveling motion picture shows. Downtown Pender got a short-lived store-show theatre in 1909 that demonstrated the town’s interest in movies. It then had a tent show originally called the Covered Dome Theatre and then just the Tent Theatre which played movies in the warm summer months.

The Opera House was challenged by the Thelma Theatre, a movie house that launched in 1914. The Opera House maintained live programming and mixing in dances and other events all the way until 1940. In October of 1940, the Thelma Theatre turned Pender Theatre was sold to Arnold Meierdierks. He immediately had plans drawn for a new theatre.

After the final movies there on October 5, 1940, the former Thelma Theatre was razed days later with a short-term full-time movie policy moving to the Opera House that lasted from October of 1940 until June 22, 1941. The Opera House became known for that period as the Pender Theatre. It ended its run with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in “Down Argentine Way". The new Pix Theatre opened on June 27, 1941 on the former spot of the Thelma Theatre.

The Opera House switched back to live fare under the Pender Opera House moniker. Running an opera house was a major challenge in the 1940’s for any sized town let alone diminutive Pender with about 1,00 residents. The Pender Opera House seems to have gone out of business following a magic show by LeRoy, the Wizard and his Funmakers on August 11, 1945. A classified advertisement in 1946 listed the Opera House seating for sale and no further activity. The building still stands in 2021.

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