Built in 1882, Tibbits Opera House is the Center for the Arts and Entertainment in Coldwater Country/Pure Michigan. After years of serving Branch County, toward the end of the Cinema Era, the opera house was slated for destruction. Tibbits was boarded up and scheduled to be razed by the end of the 1950s. Local supporters rallied support and raised funds to save the theatre. Many theatres were not as fortunate and were torn down in the name of urban renewal, but Tibbits Opera House was saved, thanks to concerned citizens who restored the interior to Victorian style. The Tibbits Opera Foundation and Arts Council was founded in 1963 and now operates the facility year-round as a community center for the arts.

With the turn of the century, the Tibbits Opera Foundation mobilized to mount yet another restoration campaign with fundraising and design development beginning in 2002. While the 1960s renovation was intended to save the theatre, the latest renovation effort is intended to return Tibbits to its original granduer. In the spring of 2006, the addition of a handicap accessible entrance and elevator onto the side of the theatre to make the theatre more accessible to all customers and patrons was completed. In February 2009, another phase of the restoration project was completed with the hoisting of the newly constructed cupola onto the theatre. With the raising of sufficient funds, Phase III, which is the restoration of the 1960s facade to the original French "Second Empire" architectural design, began in 2011 and was completed in 2013.

Enjoy year-round entertainment from professional theatre and concerts to community events and children’s theatre. Beyond the exquisite facade is an intimate 500-seat theatre with excellent acoustics. Browse the art gallery and gift shop downstairs before the show or at intermission.

Tibbits has long sought to present the best possible theatre for Branch County and the surrounding area. For 45 years since 1966, Tibbits Summer Theatre (TST) has brought professional theatre by stock company to Southwest Michigan and the tri-state area. USA Today has even named Tibbits one of "10 great places to see the lights way off Broadway."

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See and Do

• Tibbits Opera House Coldwater (0.0 miles) - Built in 1882, Tibbits Opera House is the Center for the Arts and Entertainment in Coldwater Country...
• Coldwater Country Welcome Center Coldwater (0.2 miles) - Located at exit 13 off I-69 and the US-12 Heritage Trail, this Visitor Center is on the east end of ...