PANIDA THEATER
The Panida Theater in Sandpoint is emblematic of community-building processes in intermountain towns, past and present. Named for its geographic location in the Idaho Panhandle, the Panida Theater was built in 1927 by entrepreneur F.C. Wiskill as a vaudeville theater and motion picture house. Historically, the Panida’s construction reflected Sandpoint’s maturation from a rough and rowdy squatter’s settlement along the railroad tracks to a permanent, respectable, and economically diverse community. The theater’s closure in the 1960s, and subsequent renewal, parallels the Sandpoint community’s cycle of decline and economic transition from mill town to recreational amenity town. more