Century 5 Drive-In

Opened on two of the screens with “Beneath the planet of the Apes” and “and "The undefeated”, and on the other two screens with “Two mules for Sister Sara” and “Topaz”.

The Century Drive-In’s tract of land originally was home to the Downs Drive-in at 2510 W. Main St. in Grand Prairie. In 1949, the Downs became the third drive-in theater to open in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Its original screen burned and was replaced in 1957. And not long after being sold to a new owner, it closed on January 20, 1970, was bulldozed and replaced by the newly-named Century Drive-in which opened June 13th, 1970. It closed in 1987 and was later bulldozed.

The Downs was started and operated by Tim G. Ferguson, Truman Hendrix and H.S. Ferguson. The Downs was named after the nearby Arlington Downs Racetrack which had opened in 1929 and whose racetrack and grandstand extended eastward toward the drive-in less than a mile away. Located midway between Dallas and Fort Worth and with Irving within striking distance to the North, the Downs was well positioned. The opening of a GM factory in 1951 just across the way would soon add to the traffic and visibility of the area.

Ferguson complained about the availability of first-run film titles at his theater and brought a $150,000 Sherman Antitrust-based lawsuit against the five Grand Prairie theater owners as well as the major film studios. Ferguson’s drive to have more of a voice for drive-in theaters generally led him to become a founder and president of the Texas Drive-in Theater Owners Association.

The Downs theater tower burned to the ground in a spectacular 4-alarm fire on January 19, 1957 where the film “Fury at Gun Sight Pass” was playing. Fortunately, motorists backed away and were unharmed by the $15,000 fire. The fire was attributed to the high winds combined with the screen tower’s neon lights which were excised from the redesigned screen tower. The Downs racetrack closed in 1958 but the theater retained its name.

The theater’s positioning as a family-friendly spot was enhanced by its “Candy Cane City” amusement playground. The opening of a larger park — Six Flags theme park — in 1961 provided yet more family-centric traffic near the Downs which continued to thrive in the decade. Its success led the McLendon Theater Circuit to purchase the theater with grander plans. As the multiplex era of indoor theaters was beginning and with twin and triple screen drive-ins propping up, McLendon decided to one up the other drive-ins. It would demolish the Downs not long after January 20, 1970’s double feature of “Flare Up” and “Speedway”.

McLendon would create what it called the world’s largest drive-in and first four-screener. With the Arlington Downs a distant memory as a neighboring entity, the newly named Century Drive-In would begin business on June 13, 1970 with “Beneath The Planet of the Apes” with “The Undefeated” and “Two Mules for Sister Sara” with “Topaz”. With four screens with 500 spots each at its opening, the theater did well enough to merit an additional fifth screen. The Century would go on 17 years until 1987 before being bulldozed. The nearly 40 years of drive-in exhibition for the Century/Downs makes it the area’s longest standing addresses for nearly continuous and certainly consecutive years of outdoor operation.

Uploaded some aerial views.

Never mind my question, SiliconSam has already answered it, above!

matt54.. A Photostatic copy of the DOWNS Drive In I have from the GPHS yearbook is now up on flickr with a History & description of the Drive In & a little description of the photo itself. The photo you’ll see is a photostatic copy of the photo that was in the Grand Prairie H.S. Yearbook. Enjoy! Randy A Carlisle..Historical Photographer
RAC Photography .. View link ..

Randy, what photoset is your pic of the Downs in? I could not find it.

Click on the 1955 or 1958 HA link for the area of where Twin Highways was, you can see the dual entrances. BUT in the 1972 shot, it looks like it was twinned, or a better description it was cloned with another lot next door.

Doesn’t make sense, but that’s what it appears to me to be.

http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=13599

Matt, the East Main was formerly the Chisholm Trail and can be found under that name in C.T. The Twin Highways was a single screen drive-in about a mile east of the East Main. It got it’s name because it was located between Davis Blvd. and Jefferson Blvd. coming out of Oak Cliff/Dallas. What made it unique was it had two entrances—one off of each highway! What made it an occasional problem was if there was very heavy rains, the lot flooded! It closed in the early ‘70’s.

The entry for Downs Drive in says the Downs was demolished in ‘70 to build this Century Drive In. Maybe that’s the story….

Any ads with an address for the Downs to verify?

I never remembered this drive-in having 5 screens; and judging by the aerial photo from Silicon Sam, it looks like only 4 lots. I went to a number of flicks in the early ‘70’s and enjoyed the layout; I had only been to single-screen drive-ins before this. Passing by the lot recently, it looks like they put up a huge auction hall/warehouse there. I knew and occasionally dated the daughter of the landowner.

I forgot I also saw ZOMBIE the Lucio Fulci Horror Classic AKA Dawn of the Dead 2 or Zombie 2.It was released in July 1980 so I can assume that it was around that time when I saw it.

I remember the Century 4 Drive In very well. It was located on the Arlington/Grand Prarie Texas line off Division/Hwy 80/Main and Great Southwest Parkway. The train tracks were right across the street. Not far from the strip of bars called The County Line. I remember seeing the horror film Friday The 13 and putting 2 of my friends in the trunk and sneeking them in (ticket for 1 please)!