Centerbrook Drive-In
6735 State Road 67 North,
Martinsville,
IN
46151
6735 State Road 67 North,
Martinsville,
IN
46151
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500 cars. Also has a restaurant, 3 softball diamonds, a playground, and a gymnasium.
The Bloomington Herald Times has a May 2001 article about the “Center Brook”, but it’s behind a paywall. (cough Google cached) It says that Robert and Stacia Zloty bought the 50-year-old Center Brook Drive-in and entertainment complex at a sheriff’s sale. “The Zlotys reopened the Center Brook on Sept. 1, 2000”. So it must have been closed for a while?
“My husband wanted the baseball diamonds, and I wanted the outdoor theater. I hope to make the drive-in look like it used to when it first opened,” Stacia said. The article includes a (staged?) photo of her checking a speaker for possible replacement.
“Center Brook originally opened on May 2, 1950, and was built and operated by Clyde Weddle Jr., Clyde Weddle Sr. and Robert H. Brown.”
Stacia remembered that the original screen was 60-by-60 feet, and there were 500 parking spaces.
FWIW, my references all list the Centerbrook capacity at 400, with one exception.
The Theatre Catalogs place the Centerbrook in Centerton. Exec: Clyde E. Weddel, Jr.
The 1959-63 IMPAs also used Centerton, owner Charles Morrison, who also owned the Maplecroft DI in Clayton.
The 1982-88 IMPAs had owner R. Terrell and a capacity (in ‘82) of just 250.
From the CenterBrook About Us page, which also has plenty of photos:
The Centerbrook Drive-in first opened on Tuesday May 2nd, 1950 (see the ad to the left… note the original wooden screen, which was blown down by a tornado in the 1960′s), and has been serving Martinsville, IN and the surrounding communities ever since. Centerbrook gets it’s name from the two nearby towns of Centerton and Brooklyn (“Center”-ton combined with “Brook”-lyn).
Centerbrook has been in continuous operation every year since 1950, and we are lucky to be one of 350+ drive-ins still operating in the U.S. We are the last surviving drive-in out of 4 known drive-ins in Morgan County, including the “Templeton Wheel-in Outdoor Theatre,” which was located on 67 just 3 miles north of Centerbrook (see the ads along the bottom of this page).
Do you have name of it..Petronius?
Along with the Indiana, and the old downtown Mooresville movie house, another one that’s missing from CT is the drive-in that was just a few blocks south of the old high school. That one was still standing when I went to Martinsville High in the late 60’s, but I’m not sure it was open for business at that time.
I remember the Indiana Theatre well. Didn’t see a lot of movies there, but do as a youngster remember seeing Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and a young Jack Nicholson in Roger Corman’s “The Raven” when it first came out in 1963. Judging from the street view at Google Maps, looks like the Super Sports store at 58 East Washington in Martinsville is now where the Indiana used to be.
Anybody know what was the name of the little movie theater in downtown Mooresville in the 60’s? Or whatever happened to it?
Tinseltoes..write a short overview on the Indiana Theatre and submit it.
A Morgan County institution if there ever was one. I’m SO glad to see the Centerbrook is still operating after so many other drive-ins around the nation are long gone.
Here is the Centerbrook Drive-in’s current website:
http://www.centerbrookmovies.com/
The season begins in early April, and ends in late October.