Horne Drive-In
Chapman Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37920
Chapman Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37920
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The first time that a listing appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel was on March 15, 1953 with the showing of “Barefoot Mailman starring Robert Cummings. The first advertisement didn’t appear until June 13, 1953. The last ad in the paper was on October 23, 1966. Both have been posted in the photo section.
The Earliest Information I Can Find Is A 1953 Showing. Unfortunately, This Theater Had Some Bad News And Good News.
The Bad News Is That A Few Years Later, This Theater Started To Mainly Run More Adult-Audience Films Throughout The Late 1950’s And Into The Half Of The 1960’s (As Late As 1964 I Can Find).
The Good News Is That Only ONE TIME, The Horne Drive-In Showed Only A Few Days Of Friendly-Fare By Running The 1956 Smash Film “The Ten Commandments” On April 11th And 12th, 1961 Before Switching Back To More Adult Fare.
Isn’t this the theater with the screen on the back wall of a business? There were two drive-ins on Chapman Highway and we went often with my mom, all us kids piled into our Nash Rambler and enjoying a double feature for a 50 cent admission.
We moved away from Knoxville in 1959 and I’m sure it was still open when we left.
O.G.Roaden ran the Horne Drive-in in 1956.
I moved to Knoxville in 1972, and the Horne Drive In was closed by then, though I did hear people talk about it (though at the time, I mistook it for the Sunset Drive In on Clinton Highway). There is a comment under the River Breeze Drive In that describes the Horne Drive In being closed by 1974, though he could see where the drive in had been behind some retail stores, and that a K-Mart (which is now also closed) was eventually built on the location. That must have been after I left Knoxville, so I still don’t know where that would have been.