57 Outdoor Theater
Old State Highway 57 & Ulao Parkway,
Grafton,
WI
53024
Old State Highway 57 & Ulao Parkway,
Grafton,
WI
53024
1 person
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Opened as the Port Outdoor Theater in 1953, this drive-in was located just off Highway 57 North, for which it was later renamed. In its later years, it showed adult movies. The 57 Outdoor Theater closed in 1985, and was mostly demolished afterwards, though its projection booth still stands and today houses an animal shelter.
The 57’s screen was replaced not long before it closed, and is today being used at the Moonlight Outdoor Theater in Shawano, which opened in 2000.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
There are some movie ads from the 1950’s for this drive-in at this link:
View link
Some links about the location of 57 Outdoor Theater.
Topographical map
View link
Aerial view 2000
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The projection booth is the small building with a black roof.
Any comments or questions regarding any drive-in theater in Wisconsin, please check out my website at
www.drive-inthruwisconsin.com Or contact me at I will give you complete and accurate information about Wisconsin drive-in theaters, just ask. Thanks, Charles Bruss
Old State Highway 57 & Ulao Pkwy, Grafton, WI 53024
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in.
The 57 Outdoor Theatre was located on the north side of Grafton, which is almost 8 miles further north of Thiensville.
Here is a 1955 aerial photo of the drive-in, located on the west side of Old State Hwy 57, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/99Nbsi
I should also mention that I vigorously reviewed the 1955 aerial imagery for Hwy 57 in the areas around Thiensville, and there was no trace of a drive-in theatre. My conclusion was that the Thiensville address is not accurate.
The problem with the Wisconsin Drive-In site by Charles Bruss is that it might have the largest list of Wisconsin Drive-Ins but there is not history on the site for each drive-in ie address, when it opened, when it closed, who owned it and so on. It just shows what he still needs. Charles needs to look at drive-ins.com and use a format similar to that site.
That is why I have resorted to using historical aerial imagery to obtain accurate, documented address information for drive-in locations. Address information from 50 years ago is frequently outdated, as roads have been renumbered and renamed over time. People’s memories can also get fuzzy, leading to more erroneous addresses.
I have it being owned by Port Outdoor Theatres,Inc in 1956.
NY I noticed in the newspaper ads it states North of Grafton and Thiensville is not in any of the ads.
I added some photo scans that I took in 1992.