Hadley Drive-In

310 Russell Street,
Hadley, MA 01035

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Foxonian
Foxonian on December 20, 2016 at 8:14 pm

I think the thing that really did in the Hadley Drive In was when they converted their sound system from car speakers to an FM radio frequency.Hate to tell you how many cars parked across the street in the Mutual Hardware parking lot,tuned in the frequency on their car radio and saw the movie for free since the drive in never put up any kind of fence to block the screen from the highway.

DocWatson
DocWatson on November 11, 2014 at 1:15 am

310 Massachusetts 9, Hadley, MA 01035

Technically that would be 310 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035, since, in Hadley, Russell Street is Route 9.

NYozoner
NYozoner on February 14, 2011 at 9:06 pm

310 Massachusetts 9, Hadley, MA 01035

The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in.

Here is a 1971 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on April 10, 2010 at 12:07 am

In 1956 it parked 400 cars.No change. It was owned by Hadley Drive-in Theatres.

spectrum
spectrum on March 27, 2007 at 8:55 pm

The drive-in closed around 1976. Eventually the screen was torn down, and a home & garden center was built on part of the site. That has since turned into a thrift store. Last time I looked, some of the posts that held the portable car speakers were still sitting in the ground in the areas closer to the screen.

AlLarkin
AlLarkin on September 7, 2005 at 12:48 pm

Also, I had the wrong location in my original post. It was on Rt.9, not 116. I think R.Noyes is more accurate on the closing approximation than mine. Early 80’s sounds right.

rnoyes
rnoyes on September 3, 2005 at 9:00 am

If memory serves me correctly, the drive-in closed in the early 80s, if not the late 70s. I wish I had a definitive date.

AlLarkin
AlLarkin on September 1, 2005 at 12:22 pm

I would guess during the mid to late ‘80’s. There was a crafts type store on that site until around 2004. I believe there is a second hand charity shop there presently.

jph
jph on August 22, 2005 at 7:39 pm

when did this close down?