Keno Drive-In
9102 Sheridan Road,
Pleasant Prairie,
WI
53158
9102 Sheridan Road,
Pleasant Prairie,
WI
53158
6 people
favorited this theater
The Keno Family Drive-In opened on May 18, 1949 with Dennis Morgan in “The Time, the Place and the Girl”. It had a capacity for 850 cars. Initially it was a second run theatre operated by the Standard Theaters Management Corp. chain. It featured a miniature railway and pony rides in the play area.
It was the oldest operating drive-in theatre in the State of Wisconsin. The Keno Drive-In showed movies every night from May to October. It was closed at the end of the 2014 season and was demolished in February 2016.
Contributed by
Pete Christy
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Opened with 2 colour cartoons and “The time, the place and the girl”.
The original name and spellings: “Keno Family Drive-In Theatre”.
Boxoffice, April 1, 1950: “Although crop dusting is an established practice in the agricultural south, Thomas Finin, manager of the Keno Family Drive-In near Kenosha, Wis., applied the technique to his theatre area to rid it of mosquitoes. When the boring insects made it so uncomfortable for patrons in cars they began to abandon the drive-in, Finin employed a local crop spraying form who covers the area with DDT sprayed from a plane flying some 20 feet above the ground. The treatment has proved entirely successful.”
You know It sucks to see a drive-in theater go but I for one would rather that than see it rot away. I also side a little with the owner he bought it as an investment not to run as a theater. So let him sell it maybe the community and Save The Keno can switch gears and come together and make a deal with the owner and buy some of the stuff on such as the marquee and the screen and concession and project equipment. Who knows maybe he’ll donate it. Together they can raise the funds to rebuild the Keno somewhere else in town. Start a rebuild the Keno non profit with a go fund me page. Put your hearts into it and get it done. If a community comes together they can move mountains.
Aerial Photos on Google maps look ok like screen, concession stand, projection booth, and ticket booth have all been demolished. Maybe above should be changed to demolished.
The box office and numerous other artifacts have indeed been removed but are in the Pleasant Prairie Historical Society collection.
We just want to let our followers know that the Keno Drive-In movie theater will not reopen. Our company has operated the Drive-In for 9 years. Our current lease was terminated and we were advised that the owners of the property made a business decision to find another use for the property and we would not be permitted to open the Drive-In. Every attempt was made by our company to continue the operation of the theater which included participation in the conversion to digital. My family has operated Drive-In movie theaters for over 60 years and we have a passion for the continuation of this American icon. We operate another Drive-In in Illinois, Cascade Drive-In which continues to operate successfully with top grossing movies usually in the top ten of all theaters in the country. Today Drive-In movie theaters are more popular then ever thanks to people like the Kenosha residents and beyond. Our hearts go out to every person that visited the Keno Drive-In for we really appreciated your business. We would like to extend an invitation to everyone of the Kenosha residents to visit our Cascade Drive-In in Illinois free of charge for a limited time to give thanks for all the years you supported the Keno Drive-In. Thank you! Management
I’m glad you’re here, LouRugani, but I’m very confused by that last post. Was that a message that you sent out somewhere in 2015? That would match the references to the Cascade, which closed after the 2018 season.
I see that the source didn’t make it onto the post, although I felt it should be known to the public. It was a message from the operators of the Keno Family Drive-In Theatre just after its closure to dispel any misunderstandings about the reasons.
Demolished in February 2016.