North Ottumwa Drive-In
14242 Terminal Avenue,
Ottumwa,
IA
52501
14242 Terminal Avenue,
Ottumwa,
IA
52501
1 person
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Ottumwa Drive-In, Airport Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
When southeast Iowa’s first drive-in opened on May 19, 1949 with Robert Page in 2Red Stallion". It was called “Drive-In Theatre.” The Ottumwa Theatre Co. built it near the Ottumwa Municipal Airport north of town. By October, an Ottumwa Daily Courier story called it the “Ottumwa Airport Drive-In”.
The Daily Courier wrote that when the drive-in opened, its screen was 48 feet wide by 50 feet high. In-car speakers served 500 cars over a 12-acre tract. The drive-in cost $60,000 to build and used 10,000 tons of crushed rock for its surfaces.
The 1952 Theatre Catalog listed it as the Ottumwa Drive-In. The 1955-56 edition called it the North Ottumwa Drive-In. In between, a 1954 note in the Motion Picture Herald called it “the Airport at Ottumwa”.
By the summer of 1961, only one drive-in was advertising in the Courier, presumably the South Ottumwa Drive-In. The Airport/North drive-in was completely gone by a 1976 aerial photo. The former viewing field is now the southeast parking lot of the Norris Asphalt Paving Co. Office.
Contributed by
Michael Kilgore
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
The theater opened on May 19, 1949 with Robert Page in “Red Stallion” along with an unnamed cartoon, a sportlight, and an unnamed musical short. It closed after the 1955 season.