Belknap Drive-In
5709 E. Belknap Street,
Haltom City,
TX
76117
5709 E. Belknap Street,
Haltom City,
TX
76117
2 people
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Thank you again, skyhuggs! I’ve sent you my e-mail, and I look forward to corresponding with you and your cousin about the Belknap.
I talked to my cousin last night and hooked her up to this site and she is going to look for pics to publish. I will let you email me at and hook you up with her. I’m sure she will be glad to help since her father just died.
I will talk to the Crogan employee tomorrow when he is in my office and see if he can help.
Skyhuggs, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your help – it’s very much appreciated! Given the information you have, there are a myriad of questions I’d like to ask you about the Belknap. As I mentioned earlier, I’m looking for the dimensions of the screen tower for a potential project. Is there a way I can contact you off-site? In the meantime, I look forward to your help, photographs, and memories!
LarryFM I just looked at Corgan’s website and I realize that Jack Corgan, a pilot, built drive-ins when he first started the business. One of Corgan’s employees works in the same office that I work in at Love Field. I will see if I can find out the info you want.
My uncle was manager in the 60’s and his family lived under the screen and I used to visit during the summer. GREAT TIMES. Horance (JR) Wilson just recently passed away and one of his former employees from the theater came to the funeral. I am going to try to get pics from the family to post.
LarryFM why were you trying to contact Corgan in Dallas? I have access to them.
Nice photo ken mc.
I have a favor to ask my fellow CT members. I’ve been trying to find out the dimensions of the Belknap’s screen tower and screen for some time now, but have hit the proverbial “brick wall”. I’ve contacted Corgan in Dallas, but nothing’s materialized from my effort. Could anyone here lend a fellow drive-in theatre enthusiast a hand, please? Thank you very much in advance.
Here is a 1956 aerial photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ydsszbr
Here is a photo circa 1940s:
http://tinyurl.com/l3kc4d
Here’s a bit of trivia: there’s a fairly worn east-west street in Haltom City, about half a block in length, that sits between Denton Highway (U.S. Highway 377) and Melbourne Street (which bordered the western edge of the Belknap Drive-In). It’s named Ezell Street, and I’m presuming it was named after Claude C. Ezell, half owner of the theatre.
Was mentioned in the documentary “Drive-In Movie Memories” in 2001.
Hello Ralph,
Do you have any pictures of the time you worked at the Del Norte? I have posted pictures of the El Paso Drive In Theater (there you can see photos of my father) and the Bordertown. It would be nice if there were some images of the Del Norte before it was demolished.
I worked for Jack Veeren at the Del Norte Drive In, in El Paso Texas.
Ralph Ponton
Hello Robert,
Thanks for you comments regarding the photos of the Belknap. I’m afraid that I don’t have too many photos of that period. Just some snapshots of myself and others around the theatre. Glad to hear that it’s of interest. When were you there?
I also posted photos of the El Paso and Bordertown theaters in El Paso.
Again, thanks and it’s a shame that all the old drive ins are disappearing!
Ria Veeren
Ms. Veeren,
I’m so glad to see these old photos of the Belknap Theatre…where I grew up. A couple of years ago I bought and have been renovating the McAdams Building down at Belknap & Riverside (6 Points). I’d love to compare old photos you and I and others may have of the area. Please write me so we can talk. Thanks a lot and look forward to hearing from you!
Robert Bell
My father, Jack Veeren, was manager of the Belknap in 1954/1955, and we also lived in the apartment built into the screen. For images of that period please view:
http://www.drive-ins.com/detail/txtbelk
Ria Veeren
This theatre was built by the Dallas based firm of Underwood-Ezell, builders of a number of Dallas/Ft. Worth theatres. At least the first manager of the Belknap lived in an apartment built into the screen tower. The original tower mural was a neon-lit covered wagon trail scene; the football-kicking buffalo came later. The site is now an apartment complex.
There is a rear view of the Belknap Drive-In screen here:
http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/txtbelk01.jpg
And a picture of the opening day ad for this drive-in is here:
http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/txtbelk02.jpg