Columbian Opera House

Walter S. Young’s Columbian Opera House was a replacement of F.M Bean’s Opera House that was completely erased by an October 20, 1892 fire. The Columbian Opera House was a 438-seat venue launched with a special event on February 3, 1894 of “A Pair of Kids” and its first, “regular priced” show on February 19, 1894 with the play, “Just Landed.” It was also where many residents likely saw their first film as traveling companies in the 1900s brought movies. The venue was named for the World’s Columbian Exposition - aka the Chicago World’s Fair - which had just taken place in 1893. (Note that some folks mistakenly now call the opera house as “Columbia” due to a widely circulated post card which botched the name.)

The movies were so successful that two nickelodeons opened in Downtown Farmers City in the Nickeldome and the Scenic. The Scenic was the survivor moving to larger and improved digs across the street and Paramount locked the theatre into a block booked, exclusive contract. Meanwhile, small town opera houses were proving to be cost-negative and the Columbian felt the need to compete via movies during World War I.

Under the operation of Johnson & Phillips in 1914 followed by L.W. Weedman and George Shell in 1915, the Columbian was ostensibly a full-time movie house with some major live events mixed in. When the Kendall family took over the Scenic, they became the dominant movie provider in town. By the 30-year leasing mark, the Columbian Opera House was pretty much passé.

For the people of Farmer City, however, they were better served by the Kendall Family as the Scenic went all in - converting to both sound and air conditioning. The Columbian had thrown in the towel selling to the Roxana Petroleum Company in August of 1927. They razed the venue - though using its foundation apparently - to become a gas station that opened on November 12, 1927.

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