Plymouth Drive-In
8274 Plymouth Street,
Plymouth,
OH
44865
8274 Plymouth Street,
Plymouth,
OH
44865
3 people
favorited this theater
The Plymouth Drive-In was opened on August 11, 1953, screening the 1952 adventure/drama “Lure of the Wilderness” with Jean Peters, Jeffery Hunter and Constance Smith. The second feature was the 1951 sci-fi “Flight to Mars” with Marguerite Chapman, Cameron Mitchell and Arthur Franz. The Plymouth Drive-In was opened by Ed Ramsey with a car capacity of 400 cars in 1953, which in 1955 was expanded to 450 cars. Ramsey who was a well known showman in the area also opened the Plymouth Indoor Theatre in 1933. The theatre building is still standing and is used as a laundry mat now. Mr. Ramsey, between the years of 1934 to 1952 would travel around to the various local towns and screen outdoor movies for free, using a projector and equipment mounted on the back of a truck. The shows were sponsored by the local town merchants.
The Bucyrus Outdoor Theatre Corp. took over the operation/ownership of the Plymouth Drive-In from Ramsey in June of 1974. During this time frame Ramsey got into some legal trouble and I believe that is why he transferred ownership to the Olen Martin Jr (dba Bucyrus Outdoor Theatre Corp.). Martin was operating the Tri-City Drive-In in Bucyrus also at this time. Martin operated the Plymouth Drive-In until the end of the 1981 season when it closed for good. The property was transferred back to the Ramsey family. In 1994 after Lois Ramsey’s death it was sold to Dalton Schaaf and used as an auto salvage yard. It was demolished by November 2021.
Contributed by
Lost Memory, Randy Studer
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Uploaded some pictures. The DI is in poor condition and for sale.
wonder if there are any old one sheets laying around inside the tower? I don’t think I would be brave enough to venture in to find out. Probably guarded by rats lol
All the doors and gates were locked up with no trespassing signs posted. I did once and got busted at another DI…LOL!!
Video from back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZelSrlym9w
The new address is:8274 Plymouth St, Plymouth, Ohio
The old one:8274 State Route 61, Plymouth, OH 44865 does not work anymore.
GPS: 40.981287, -82.665609
I used to deliver concession supplies to the Plymouth Drive in in the 60’s after delivering to Armstrongs Springmill Drive In In Mansfield, and in doing so met and befriended Ed Ramsey. You would not want to meet a nicer guy and he would offer sandwiches to me when delivering. I worked for Jack Armstrong owner of Armstrong Circuit (Theater company) of Bowling Green Ohio and he supplied the concession supplies to Ed and booked films for him and other theaters around Ohio and Michigan. The Plymouth DI was very nice top notch theater with the entire lot Black topped.
A November 2021 Google Street View shows the drive-in to be totally demolished. The marquee and screen (which was falling apart) are gone.