When I think of opera houses, my mind jumps straight to big cities with bright marquees like Sydney, Paris, or New York. The last place I’d expect to find one is tiny Pennville, Indiana. Still, the town had an honest-to-goodness opera house of its own, and the old building still stands today.
Pennville sits on State Road 1 between Redkey and Bluffton. It’s home to an impressive row of old commercial buildings that date to the community’s gas-boom heyday. One of the most prominent structures sits at 175 South Union Street. Built in 18951, the top floor of the building was once Pennville’s opera house2.
By “opera house,” I really mean something more like a vaudeville house. A variety of plays were held at the venue, especially ones put on by the high school3, from the early teens up through the 1920s4. Evidence purports that it was officially known as the Pastime Theater5.
Despite mostly being used to hold plays on its stage, the facility was set up to show movies as well. In 1921, it played moving pictures taken at Pennville High school6.
The bottom story of the Pastime Theater building was always home to some kind of store or shop, but its entertainment space could be reached from an outside stairway, an interior stair, or an elevator7. No one knows when the last show was held, but I bet it was before World War II. In the intervening years, the upstairs became home to a lodge hall, a dentist’s office, and, partially, apartments8.
Sources Cited
1 Parcel 38-01-34-101-054.000-011 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Jay County [Portland]. Web. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
2 (Routledge, R. (2007, April 22). Hidden history. The Muncie Star Press. p. 23.
3 Pennville (1924, April 9). The Muncie Star. p. 12.
4 Pennville (1926, May 29). The Muncie Star. p. 11.
5 Pennville (1917, July 8). The Muncie Star. p. 21.
6 Pennville (1921, October 28). The Muncie Star. p. 19.
7 (See footnote 2).
8 (See footnote 2).
On a recent watch of Stranger Things, I was excited to see that Dustin was wearing a “Pennville Pirates” shirt in one of the episodes. Then I was disappointed when I looked up the old school and saw that their mascot was the Bulldogs. Tremendous missed opportunity to spotlight this cool little town.
It would have been! What a bummer.
Do you know anything about Farmlands Opera House? It’s a Pizza King and as far as I know the upstairs is empty/ storage for PK.
I don’t! I’ve passed by many times but never made that connection. I’ll do some research!
Obviously the building hasn’t been occupied for a long time. Given the size of Pennville I don’t hold a lot of hope for its future.
It seems occupied in some fashion, but I agree that it isn’t a useful fashion.
Pennville always sounded like a place for a prison. And I love how these old theaters were often called “opera houses”.
I agree with both. Interestingly, there’s another Pennville on US-40 west of Richmond.
While totally off topic, I believe there are at least 2 Needmores in Indiana as well.
Interesting! I only knew of the one.