Indian River City Auto Theatre
201 Cheney Highway,
Titusville,
FL
32780
201 Cheney Highway,
Titusville,
FL
32780
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Riverview Auto Theatre
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The Riverview Auto Theatre of Titusville, FL was a very short lived airer. It opened on April 28, 1953 screening the 1952 comedy “Sound Off” featuring Mickey Rooney, Anne James and John Archer. The second feature was the 1951 adventure “Jungle Manhunt” with Johnny Weissmuller and Robert Waterfield. The Riverview Auto Theatre was opened by Harry H. Sisson and his son Don Sisson. Don Sisson was a Korean War veteran. Exhibitors Service Co. from Jacksonville, FL was the booking and buying agency. A total of 250-car speakers were installed with space for 150 more cars if patronage warrants it. The screen tower was one side of a five-story concrete building with five apartments. The Don Sisson family lived in one of the apartments in the screen tower, and did so until 1966. Harry H. Sisson died in May of 1956. He owned a gas station at the corner of U.S. 1 and SR 50, calling it Sisson Corners. He was also the developer that built Indian River City. On August 25, 1955 the Riverview Auto Theatre announced they would be open for weekends only. Later on, it was closed, almost for good.
In early-1956 the Riverview Auto Theatre was leased out to D.W. Koehle and C.W. Armstrong, two former showmen from Ohio. They upgraded the projection equipment for screening CinemaScope features. Renamed Indian River City Auto Theatre the grand reopening night was April 20, 1956 with “The High and the Mighty” in ‘scope, with John Wayne, and Claire Trevor. On January 11, 1959 the Indian River City Auto Theatre screened its last movie and closed for good. The theatre property sat empty for many years. It is now a Walgreens Pharmact, TD Bank and a water retention plant.
Contributed by
Randy Studer, Andy
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
Was not in the 1956 MOTION PICTURE ALMANAC.Either not built or closed.
Probably not built. I don’t think Titusville was much of anything until the space program took off.
This drive-in has an entry at Drive-ins.com and shows on the Rivest list for Titusville, but neither really provides any more information that what is here. My guess is that it did exist but had a very short life.
It appears on a USGS topographical map, many of which seem to have been printed in the late 70s.
U.S. 1 & Kingman Rd, Titusville, FL 32796
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which was on the east side of US 1, just south of Kingman Rd. The address in the current heading is off by about 3 miles to the south.
Here is a USGS topo map which notes the location of the drive-in, courtesy of MSRMaps.com.
Approx. address for this drive-in was 1479 U.S. 1.
I just posted multiple images courtesy of Karen Kay Sisson, who’s family apparently owned the Riverview Auto Theatre located on Highway 50 just West of US1. It opened April 28, 1952. The theatre name in the Overview should be changed to Riverview Auto Theatre. It was not the Titusville Drive-In. I found these images on a Facebook page called History and Memories of Brevard County. I am assuming the drive-in was not around for too long. In one of the Facebook comments Karen Kay Sisson is quoted: Mom said she knew the end was near when they started seeing television antennas pop up on homes in IRC!
Opened with “Sound off” and “Jungle man hunt”.
A closer address is 201 Cheney Hwy, Titusville, FL.
This fits the Grand Opening advertisement of being in “Indian River City” and close to the Indian River, thus the Riverview Name.
The drive-in can be seen in a 1958 aerial. But it was completely gone by 1984.
Today, the eastern half of the property is occupied by TD Bank while the western half is a pond. There is no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/bdh8tfnw