Frontier Drive-In
13380 SW Morrow Road,
Rushville,
MO
64484
13380 SW Morrow Road,
Rushville,
MO
64484
1 person
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Located across the State border from Atchison, KS. The Frontier Drive-In was opened on May 6, 1950 with “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, supported by a Laurel & Hardy short & cartoons. There was a fireworks display at 8pm. The opening was attended by the cowboy star Andy Devine, who was a graduate of St. Benedict’s College in Atchison. It was owned by the Atchison Drive-In Theatre Corp.
It was demolished in 2004.
Contributed by
Clay Jarratt, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
The address for this Drive-in is 13500 SW Morrow Rd, Rushville, MO 64484.
Please update.
Jw the city that this was in is Winthrop Mo if you use google satellite youll see Winthrop right across from Atchison Mo Rushville was about 10 miles north of this location both cities are located in Buchanan county mo please change to Winthrop Mo the address is correct just not the town
The April 14, 1951 edition of Boxoffice reported that Melvin L. Blackledge had purchased the Frontier Drive-In in Atchison.
The 1952 Theatre Catalog listed the Frontier Drive-In under Atchison KS, owned by Charles Potter with a capacity of 350 cars.
Boxoffice, May 11, 1959: “The Fox and Orpheum theatres in Atchison, Kas., and the Frontier Drive-In Theater in Winthrop, Mo., across the Missouri River from Atchison, have been leased by a new corporation formed by Harry Hixon in conjunction with Commonwealth Amusement Corp. The new firm, known as Commonwealth Atchison Theatres, has named Hixon as its Atchison manager.”
A closer address is 13380 SW Morrow Rd, Rushville, MO.
Google Maps has updated their addresses and this puts it right on the property. It appears that Winthrop was either never or no longer incorporated which is why Rushville is used.
The drive-in was still intact in a 1991 aerial. By 1997, the projection booth/concession stand was gone. The screen was still present in 2003, but gone by 2006.
Today, only faint parch marks of the ramps and outline remain.
https://tinyurl.com/mrx7e8pm