Cairo Drive-In Theatre
US 84 & 8th Avenue NE,
Cairo,
GA
39828
US 84 & 8th Avenue NE,
Cairo,
GA
39828
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The Cairo Drive In Theatre was built in 1950 by C. Spurgeon Dunn, Ellison Dunn and Jim Camp. It held 450 cars. The screen tower was 60 feet tall and 60 feet wide. When CinemaScope came out, wings were added to the side to make the screen 90 feet wide. The theater was located on 10 acres of land, the drive in occupied approximately seven acres and the rest was landscaped. It had its own greenhouse.
At one time the screen tower was occupied by an outboard motor/boat dealership and service center. In 1963, the drive was purchased by a local car dealer with the intention of demolishing it and building a new dealership on the land. Instead of doing this, he built further down the road and operated the drive in for about one year, after which he rented it back to the Dunn family. Larry Bearden rented the drive in in 1978.
In 1984, the land was sold to a developer for the building of a shopping center. During the period of 1978 to 1984, Larry Bearden had a televesion repair shop in the screen tower, along with an office, storage rooms, and a speaker repair shop.
The site is now occupied by a Wal-Mart; however, one pole remains next to the highway which held a driveway light.
Contributed by
Larry Bearden
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Thanks Larry for remembering the Cairo Drive-in.
Another Walmart!!!UGH!!!
U.S. 84 & 8th Ave NE, Cairo, GA 39828
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is currently occupied by a Walmart.
Here is a 1952 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS.
There are several pictures of this drive-in on its gallery page at Drive-ins.com: http://www.drive-ins.com/gallery/gatcair
thanks again for the Great pictures.