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| Minden Opera House was built in 1891 and featured plays and Monday night dances that drew traveling bands until entertainment events at the facility ceased in the late 1940's. The old building, which was being used by a hardware store, was gutted and transformed into a showplace of wood, brass, murals, and fiber optics. |
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| For over a century the opera house as constructed by W.T. Thorn has stood. There are many memories of this place stored within the minds of local residents and many stories which have been told and retold. Now with the construction of the newly designed Minden Opera House occurring at the turn of a new century, well over 100 years after its beginning, new life has been breathed into this historic structure. There are new happenings about to occur and new stories waiting to be created. |
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| The Kearney County Community Foundation worked for several years on the planning and completion of the project which was supported totally by grants and donations and owns the 119 year old opera house. The Minden Opera House Board was elected from organizations in the community to operate the facility. Memorial Day weekend of 2000 marked the grand opening of the beautiful "new" Minden Opera House. |
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| The mural on the ceiling of the opera house includes fiber-optic lighting which gives the people below the mural, a stars-in-the-sky effect. |
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| | There are four Kearney County people from history portrayed on the mural. They are: | | George P. Kingsley, a banker in Minden who was instrumental in bringing irrigation to the area and for whom Kingsley Dam is named; | | Joel Hull, considered the founder of Minden; | | Harry Hapeman, a pioneer doctor in Minden; | | Harold Warp, founder of Pioneer Village. |
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