Chapman Hi-Way Drive-In
7406 Chapman Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37920
7406 Chapman Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37920
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The Chapman Hi-Way Drive-In was located on Chapman Highway (Highway 441 South) in South Knoxville. It was close to the current intersection of Chapman Highway and John Sevier Highway, on the left as you were going out of town. It opened on October 18, 1951 with Betty Grable in “Wabash Avenue”.
When I lived in Knoxville in the 1970’s, the Chapman Hi-Way Drive-In was run by the Simpson chain. They ran almost exclusively “hard R” or “soft X” sexploitation movies: not really pornography, but drive-in sex movies, where the titles sometimes sounded “dirtier” than the actual movies. I know that for over a year, they showed the sexploitation classic “The Cheerleaders”, with revolving second features. It closed on October 20, 1987 screening XXX Rated movies. A Wal-Mart is on the property now.
The Chapman Hi-Way Drive-In was at the time, and may still be, the only movie theatre, indoor or drive-in, in South Knoxville (south of the Tennessee River), unless there was an unknown older theatre in the South Knoxville, Island Home, or Vestal neighborhoods earlier.
Contributed by
Bob Brown
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
The location of this theater is where the Super Wal-Mart now stands. The marquee was there until the late-1990’s – early 2000’s.
Approx. address for this drive-in was 7406 Chapman Highway.
Pity no one in KNOXVILLE took a picture….
Here is the marquee
First Drive In Movie I ever went to with a Special Boyfriend and watched an Elvis Movie in 1962-1963
Can anyone remember what the feature was for the week of 15 July, when Star Wars came to town?
Found the ad. It opened on October 18th, 1951.
Fotomac, The double feature playing on July 15, 1977:“Felicia” and “I Feel it Coming”.
The Chapman Hwy Drive-In closed on October 20, 1987. The final ad is posted in the photo section.
The screen was removed during the early-1990s, and its traces were left abandoned until a Walmart was built at the site, opening on March 17, 2004 as a replacement of an earlier location nearby that had been operating since January 31, 1990, and the original location is currently vacant.