Gaffney Drive-In

The Gaffney Drive-In, the city’s first drive-in, opened on September 15, 1948, with the Robert Lowery movie “God’s Country” along with a comedy and a cartoon. Built for $44,000, it was just outside the city limits on US 29, the Spartanburg highway. The Gaffney Ledger wrote that it had room for 300 cars and was owned by S. L. Stallings.

The Gaffney Drive-In was one of two drive-ins listed under Gaffney SC in the 1961 Motion Picture Almanac, along with the Skyway Drive-In. The Gaffney Drive-In entry showed 225 cars, owned by Campbell & Griffin.

Per a note decades later in the Ledger, in the 1960’s, the city briefly operated a trash incinerator near the drive-in until the Gaffney’s owner complained that the smoke was so thick it obscured the screen.

On October 6, 1969, Boxoffice wrote that Charles B. Duncan “who has operated these theatres for the last 20 years,” had leased the Gaffney (among others) to Variety Pictures. Drive-In A 1955 aerial photo shows the Gaffney just outside the city limits on US 29. It was still intact in 1976 but overgrown in 1984. Nothing remains of the drive-in site today.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.