Brownsville Drive-In

MichaelKilgore on November 30, 2017 at 2:41 pm

Ficks opened in April 1949. Its ad in the April 22, 1949 Uniontown Morning Herald said to “watch for opening of the district’s newest most modern constructed drive-in”. Its first now showing ad was Tuesday April 26, “One Sunday Afternoon”. For some reason, the current Brownsville site says the original box office was erected in June 1949.

Ficks Drive-In Theatre, Inc. filed public notice of incorporation for February 9, 1950.

The Daily Courier of Connellsville wrote on July 3, 1951: I. J. Ficks and Margaret B. A. Moody were deeded nine and a half acres of ground with buildings along Route 40 by the Ficks Drive-In Theatre, Inc. That would be Isadore J. Ficks.

In March 1954, I. J. Ficks announced purchase of the Moody interests in the Ficks Drive-In theater.

The Brownsville, formerly Ficks, reopened for the season in March 1959, now owned by Louis Stuler and Durward Coe, the pair who started the Sky View a few miles down the road in Carmichaels.

The 1952 Theatre Catalog listed “Fick’s” in East Brownsville, Exec: Moody and Baker. The 1955-56 Catalog listed “Fick’s” in Brownsville, Exec: Basie and Laskey Entr., and F. D. Moore Th. Serv.

Ficks is listed under Brownsville in the 1952-59 Motion Picture Almanacs, capacity 400, owned by Moody & Dickinson. For the 1961-66 editions, it became the Brownsville DI, owned by Louis Stuler & Darwin Coe. It fell off the MPA list in 1978, never to return.

The 1993 photo at HistoricAerials.com shows only two screens, so the third must have come after that. The 1969 photo shows that the main screen used to be northwest of the concession stand.

Drive-In 54 on May 10, 2014 at 4:58 am

Added some pictures from the Brownsville Drive-In Facebook page.