Warner's Drive-In

Lee Drive,
Franklin, WV 26807

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MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 13, 2017 at 4:57 pm

There’s a very nice story about Warner’s at the West Virginia Historic Theatre Trail web site. Charlie Warner and his son Harold opened the Warner’s Drive-In in April of 1952. More than 50 years later, it was somehow the property of the Franklin Oil Company, which didn’t want to spend the cash to convert it to digital projection, and it closed in 2014.

A group of locals formed a non-profit to refurbish the concession stand, buy a new projector, and reopen Warner’s. It finished its first full season on the new equipment in 2017.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 13, 2017 at 3:14 pm

The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog listed the Warner DI owned by Harold Warner, capacity 150.

The first appearance of the Warner in the Motion Picture Almanac was the 1953-54 edition. It eventually listed the owner as Harold Warner, capacity 200. By the 1966 edition, it was the Warner Circ.

In the 1978-84 editions, the Warner (still no apostrophe) was owned by M. Warner. It was gone by the 1986 edition.

Jay Harvey
Jay Harvey on October 20, 2013 at 12:27 pm

cool looking tower, looks ancient!

ElCartero
ElCartero on June 18, 2009 at 10:48 pm

This page has a bunch of nice photos of it:
http://www.driveins.org/wv-franklin-warners.htm