Boise Mayor Pinney’s striking Columbia Theatre brought top shows to Idaho in 1890s

James Pinney’s life-long love of the theater surfaced in September 1891 when the Statesman reported: “Manager Pinney of Sonna’s Opera House is endeavoring to make a good booking of attractions for the coming season, and will be able to secure some excellent shows. Among those already signed is ‘The Dazzler’ with Lydia Thompson in the lead part, on the 5th of October. This company is now playing with good success in California.”

On April 29, 1892, Pinney and Sonna “parted ways” for reasons not divulged, and Bayhouse & Fritts were listed as the new managers of the opera house.

In September of that year, “James A. Pinney has purchased for his newspaper carrier a fine pneumatic-tired safety bicycle. It is better than a horse, he thinks.”

In October 1892, “Mayor Pinney said yesterday that he would positively decline a re-nomination as mayor, citing the fact that he was already a director of the board of trade and the school board.”

The year 1892 was celebrated nationally and locally to mark the 400th anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus. In Boise, Mayor Pinney asked that an arc light be installed at the corner of Jefferson and 8th streets since his new Columbia Theatre, named for Columbus, would open there on Dec. 12. The Columbia, pictured here today, has a vaguely Elizabethan look, and was unlike anything built in Boise before or since.

When new Mayor Peter Sonna and the new Boise council were installed on July 15, 1893, the Statesman reported: “This last meeting of the council over which Mayor Pinney has presided so long was held amid music and cheers. A large crowd was present in the council room when Mayor Pinney rapped for order. Mayor Pinney and Mayor-elect Sonna occupied chairs behind the mayor’s desk and in front of a lovely floral piece presented by some of Boise’s ladies. The old and the new councilmen sat two and two behind the different desks.

“After several selections by the band, S.W. Moody stepped before Mayor Pinney, and in a neat speech presented him with a beautiful gold-headed cane, bearing the inscription ‘a souvenir to Mayor James A. Pinney, by the Citizens of Boise, July 15, 1893.’ Mayor Pinney’s voice wavered and tears sprang to his eyes as he accepted, with a few words, the token of respect and appreciation.”

Among the programs presented in the early years of the Columbia Theatre were Mrs. John Drew and her company in ‘The Rivals.’ In this play, Drew appeared in the role of Mrs. Malaprop, “the impersonation of which is said to be the crowning work of her long and brilliant career.”

In October 1893, Pinney offered “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” The Idaho Statesman, in fulsome prose in support of one of its advertisers, wrote, “It is universally conceded by the ablest critics of the land to be the best American drama known to the annals of the modern stage.”

The Columbia’s 1894 season included “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” “The Fast Mail,” ‘Ole Olson,” “Charley’s Aunt” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Pinney opened the huge Pinney Theatre in 1908 on the site of the more picturesque Columbia.