Tri-State Drive-In

1966 Smith Township State Road,
Slovan, PA 15078

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Screen 2

Opened July 3, 1955 with Jane Powell in “Hit the Deck”. Located in a tiny village in rural Washington County. It was closed on September 6, 1987 with Kevin Costner in “The Untouchables” & Nancy Allen in “Sweet Revenge”. Everything was still there, including the drive-in sign (with Coca-Cola logo), ticket booth, projection building, and screen, but by 2013, only the ruins of the screen survive.

Contributed by Denny Pine

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

edblank
edblank on June 18, 2011 at 11:41 am

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the Tri-State was in its heyday, the weekly playbill/program featuring current and forthcoming features was inserted in all copies of The Pittsburgh Press distributed in the Burgettstown/McDonald/Bulger/Midway area.

jwmovies
jwmovies on December 24, 2012 at 4:45 pm

The address for this drive-in was 1966 Smith Township State Road.

edblank
edblank on December 25, 2012 at 5:21 am

Up until perhaps the 1970s, there was an indoor theater called the Mary Ann, which I believe was in McDonald PA. There seems to be no Cinema Treasures entry for it. Can anyone help here? I’m asking on the Tri-State Drive-In forum because I think the Mary Ann and the Tri-State were rural neighbors. Thank you.

RSM3853
RSM3853 on December 5, 2013 at 8:51 am

Ed, try www.movie-theatre.org/ – Rivest’s Ultimate List of Movie Theatres.

wesmang
wesmang on January 13, 2014 at 7:40 pm

I went to the Tri-State site in Oct. of 2013 and sadly only a rusted, deteriorating screen is all that remains. No concession stand, projection booth, or box office. Just an empty field

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on September 11, 2015 at 6:45 am

The screen is now gone as well

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on December 16, 2019 at 7:13 am

The house in front of where the screen used to be was torn down as well. There is now a Dollar General on the former drive-in site.

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on December 16, 2019 at 7:19 am

The zip code for Slovan is 15078, not 15021

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on May 7, 2020 at 8:53 am

Ed, since it’s an 8-year-old post, you probably have this information now, but the Mary Ann Theater was located in Burgettstown where South Main (Old 18) and the Brunner Bypass (current 18) split. It was torn down to make way for said bypass. The Tri-State Drive-in was just 1 ½ miles south of the Mary Ann.

There was another indoor theater ½ mile north of the Mary Ann…the Keith Theater near the intersection of North Main and Main Ext. This was torn down also.

I used to live in Burgettstown in the 70’s but only knew of the Tri-State Drive-In back then. Despite that the Tri-State and Belle Air in nearby Weirton Heights were the closest drive-ins to us, for some reason we never went to those. We went to either the Penn-Lincoln in North Fayette Township or Twin Hi-Way in Robinson Township.

I see that neither Burgettstown indoor theater has made their way into CT yet. Once the libraries reopen after the current pandemic is officially over, I’m going to see what I can find out about them at the local library

Denny Pine
Denny Pine on October 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

Updates for the overview:

The Tri-State Drive-In opened on July 2, 1955 with “Hit The Deck”. Final night of operation was on September 6, 1987 with “The Untouchables” and “Sweet Revenge”

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