Commerce Drive-In
5174 FM2874,
Commerce,
TX
75428
5174 FM2874,
Commerce,
TX
75428
2 people
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The Commerce Drive-In was opened on July 29, 1952 with John Lund in “Steel Town”. It was taken over by Rowley United Theatres Inc. by 1957. There were parking spaces for 330 automobiles. It was closed on January 2, 1977 with Jeff Bridges in “King Kong”.
As of March 2010 the theatre area was very overgrown and the screen was the only visible reminder of the High View Drive-In. It was demolished by late-2013.
Contributed by
Don Lewis / Billy Smith / Billy Holcomb
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
If you copy and paste the address to Google or Historic Aerials, make sure you edit the word Country by getting rid of the r. It’s County road, not country :)
Billboard, Aug. 16, 1952: “A. W. (Jack) Lilly plans to open a 300-car capacity theater at Commerce, Tex., soon. It will have four program changes each week.”
Billboard, Sept. 6, 1952: “A. W. (Jack) Lilly has opened the new 330-car capacity drive-in at Commerce, Tex.”
cant find any trace of the drive-in must have been demolished completely
The ramps are still there, at least in the latest overhead view from Google Maps. But the screen is gone, either removed or it just disintegrated given how poor a condition it was in.
It appears that the screen was removed in late 2013.
The screen wasn’t fully removed. A December 2021 Google Street View shows part of the base is still present under the trees.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it had fallen over given its poor condition and they hauled off the debris while leaving the rest of it in place.
Unless you knew a drive in was ever at this location, you would not know from driving by the location today. The property had been shredded and cleaned up.
A June 2022 Google Street View does show a mostly cleaned-up property. Although the base of the screen can still be see. But if you didn’t know what it was, you wouldn’t know by looking at what’s left of it.
The Commerce Drive-In opened its gates on July 29, 1952 with John Lund in “Steel Town” with no extra short subjects featuring original installations of Simplex projectors and a 32x45ft Johns-Manville Flexboard screen covered with a special cement type paint.
The Lilly’s who operated both the Palace and the Commerce Drive-In sold their theaters to Rowley United Theatres in 1965. Rowley then sold both theaters to the Texas Cinema Corporation in 1972.
The Commerce Drive-In closed for the final time on January 2, 1977 with the 1976 version of “King Kong” due to the theater failing to attract a suitable turnout.
This left Commerce without a movie house until Plitt Theatres launched the Cinema 3 almost three years later.
A closer address is 5174 FM2874, Commerce, TX.
Google Maps has updated their addresses. This puts it right on the property about where the entrance road used to be.
You can still see the outline, ramps, and foundation of the projection booth/concession stand. What’s left of the screen is a crumpled mess underneath the trees as of June 2022.
http://tinyurl.com/55b2ytxr