Opening in 1888, the McPherson Opera House was one of the first opera houses with electricity and had no equal between Kansas City and Denver. On opening night, all 900 seats were sold, at a time when the population of the City of McPherson was less than 2,500 people, and the Opera House quickly established itself as the McPherson County’s cultural center. The Opera House was used later as a the Mac Theater, showing the best of motion pictures until the year of 1965. The building also housed numerous other businesses with use of these spaces dwindling over time, the last tenant, Continental Trailways, vacating the building in 1983.
In 1986, the McPherson Opera House Preservation Company was formed to save the building from demolition and to restore it to community use. Although many in McPherson had affection for the Opera House, most felt the derelict building was beyond repair, and the consensus was that the Preservation Company, although well-intentioned, had little hope of success.
The early supporters of the Opera House devoted countless hours to the backbreaking work necessary to prepare the Opera House for its eventual rehabilitation. Time and again, against seemingly impossible odds, they saved the building from the wrecking ball. Their early work paved the way for the completion of the Opera House, an $8,500,000 project. The west commercial portion was put into service in February 2007, and the auditorium had a Grand Reopening on January 28, 2010, exactly 121 years after the original Grand Opening.
While you are in Lindsborg, get your tickets for a performance or book a tour. 620-241-1952
