Town & Country Drive-In
21861 Highway J46,
Centerville,
IA
52544
21861 Highway J46,
Centerville,
IA
52544
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The Town & Country Drive-In opened by 1954 when it was operated by Wayne McCalment & Bob Martin. Car capacity was 400 cars. It closed on June 14, 1986 with Steve Guttenberg in “Police Academy” & Goldie Hawn in “Wildcats”.
Contributed by
Chris1982
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
21846 Hwy J46, Centerville, IA 52544 is a better address. This points directly to the entrance.
Please update.
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included Centerville’s Town and Country Drive-In, capacity 400 cars, owners “Wayne McCalment and Bob Martin, and A. A. Renfro, Omaha, Neb.”
A UPI wire service story, carried on the following day’s front page of the Joplin (MO) News Herald, said that a severe windstorm on Aug. 8, 1956, leveled Centerville’s drive-in theater about midnight.
I pulled up Google Maps and clicked the former concession building. The result was 21861 Hwy J46. jwmovies' address now points to a spot on the other side of J46.
The Town & Country Drive-In opened its gates on August 1, 1952 with Randolph Scott in “The Cariboo Trail” along with multiple Terrytoons cartoons and a newsreel. The original screen measures 60x50ft.
Correction on its June 14, 1986 closing: The Town & Country Drive-In closed with “Police Academy 3: Back In Training” (not the first one), and “Wildcats”.
Why is there a picture of a railway station? Totally useless, and should be deleted.
I’m so damn confused. I don’t know why.
Is that supposed to be the screen in the background on the right? One set of tracks obviously did run nearby, behind what is now the MFA location at the intersection, but it would have made no sense to have the station there. It’s miles out of town. There is a railway station well to the north on IA 5, but it is older.
Found the photo, which is a 1962 picture of the Rock Island depot in Centerville. The depot is now a house off of 210th Ave, which is ridiculously far out of town, but I guess that is the screen in the background. A caption would not have hurt.
That definitely looks like the drive-in’s screen. So now it makes sense on why he added the photo.
The train station at that location makes sense as the tracks split in two direction just to the east. One going into town, the other heading southeast. Passengers travelling cross-country probably disembarked at the station and waited for a connecting train to their destination.
After zooming in on the photo, that is the back of the drive-in screen. The only question I have is the trees behind the screen, which seem more numerous than can be seen on historic aerials from 1955. But that is pretty minor.
I’d say the photo is legit.