El-Co Drive-In
1600 Main Street,
Shattuck,
OK
73858
1600 Main Street,
Shattuck,
OK
73858
1 person
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The El-Co Drive-In was opened on May 18, 1952 with Alan Young in “Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick”. The El-Co Drive-In was small with only a 182 car capacity. It was originally constructed of wood, and subsequently burnt down around 1963. A new theatre was built of concrete blocks, which operated until at least 1975. It was toppled in a wind storm.
In November-2011, a new drive-in theatre was constructed and opened in Shattuck, and the owners managed to secure the name rights of ‘El-Co’. The name El-Co is derived from the name of the county town of Shattuck which is located in Ellis County, hence ‘El-Co’.
Contributed by
Jeff Chapman
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The Drive-In was located south of the town approximately 1600 Main Street on the SE corner. There are no remains of the drive-in and a building sits on the location. https://goo.gl/maps/N4wyI
The El-Co’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1955 edition, capacity 140, owner Garland Wilson. (The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog had the same info except its capacity was 141.) It stayed that way through at least 1966. The El-Co was still on the list in the 1976 edition of the MPA, but was gone by 1978, never to return.
The viewing area was still visible in HistoricAerial.com’s 1995 photo at the southeast corner of what is now E0520 Road and Main Street. (Thanks, Kenmore!) Buildings had replaced it by the 2003 photo.
Boxoffice reports that C A Crouch owned the El-Co Jul 5 1976.
Garland Wilson built the Drive-In in 1952 with a name-the-theater contest prior to launching. The winning name was the fusion of Ellis County Oklahoma or the El-Co. It opened with 182 spaces for cars on May 18, 1952 with Dinah Shore in “Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick.”