Highway Theatre

700 W. Dunklin Street,
Jefferson City, MO 65101

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Most of the Highway Theatre’s information is lost through time due to it being a very short-lived theatre.

Opened during the second quarter of 1946, the Highway Theatre was located at Highway 50 West at W. Dunklin Street in Jefferson City, and was the first in the city of Jefferson City, running from May until October.

It screened first run movies and occasionally second run. The dominant mainstream theatre in Jefferson City was the Capitol Theatre. The Highway Theatre had a very short life and was closed at the end of the 1947.

The aftermath of the closure remains hidden or lost through history, so the hunt still continues.

Contributed by 50sSNIPES

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on March 29, 2024 at 8:11 pm

Corrections: The Highway Theatre is an indoor movie house, not a drive-in theater. It was very confusing because of its name. It was located on 700 W Dunklin St, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

Also, the Highway Theatre ran primarily first-run features, but it can sometimes do either a second-run, a rerelease, or a weekend double-feature of a second-run/B thing in once in a while. In portions of its history, some of the first-run features the Highway Theatre played would’ve been shown at either the Capitol Theatre or the State Theatre, such as “Ceasar and Cleopatra” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” (the Capitol would’ve picked up both titles nonetheless, but its surprising to see both titles running in a short-lived theater).

The Highway Theatre did not appear as much in advertisements, some of which including opening date were unclear due to lost info. Showtimes for the Highway Theatre as I surfaced only appeared during the middle of both years, meaning that the Highway Theatre could be a seasonal movie house (possibly from May to September).

The Highway Theatre closed after 1947 following reconstruction on Highway 50 in May 1948 which the Kieselbach Corporation company had granted two permits for improvements on Highway 50. The theater was demolished the following month to make way for a used car lot for Sexton Motors.

  • Any other additional information on the Highway Theatre would be greatly appreciated, and will be updated as soon as we get information.
50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on March 30, 2024 at 7:20 pm

More Corrections: The Highway Theatre was the first seasonal indoor movie theater in Jefferson City, and the State Theatre is not a dominate mainstream theater. Only the Capitol Theatre is the dominant mainstream movie house in Jefferson City.

  • As of 1947, the State Theatre does show only a minimum of first-run features. The State Theatre is primarily a double-feature second-run house (sometimes third-run) with B things on weekends. Right after the Highway Theatre closed, the Roxy Theatre launched with a similar policy to the Highway Theatre and was also operated seasonally. The Roxy ran a mix of first-run and second-run features. Some first-run features the Roxy ran include “Fun and Fancy Free” but the Roxy did brought back some films that either came from the Highway or the Capitol, such as “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Song Of The South”. Speaking of Disney, Disney films were very spotty at the time. “Fun and Fancy Free” ran at the Roxy while “Melody Time” ran at the Capitol. Two first-runs in two theaters does make sense for a city with 43,000 people.
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