Frisina Madison Drive-In
4701 Avenue O,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
4701 Avenue O,
Fort Madison,
IA
52627
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 7 comments
One mention said that the Fort Madison was built in 1952.
The Independent Film Journal, July 23, 1955: “Wide screens were installed in the Fort Madison Drive-In and the Uptown Theatre in Gladbrook.”
Boxoffice, June 3, 1963: “After losing a hard fight to daylight savings time, Herbert Hoglan has announced he will close his Fort Madison Drive-In permanently at the end of the current season. Hoglan had been successful in obtaining a temporary injunction against the city council’s fast time resolution only to have most offices and merchants go on "summer hours,” opening and closing an hour earlier without changing the clock. In later court action, District Judge W. L. Huiskamp refused to cite the council for contempt in connection with the earlier injunction."
Boxoffice, Aug. 16, 1965: “The Fort Madison Drive-In has been purchased by Dominic Frisina, president of Frisina Amusement Co., from Herbert Hoaglin, who built the airer in 1952. Frisina at once announced plans for renovating the property, the initial change to be installation of new booth equipment.”
Sometime after May 2023, but before September 2023 the land was cleared of all the trees. It has been for sale for several years.
Both 1956 and 1957 aerial views show the theater operating in its entirety, meaning that the Madison Drive-In probably opened sometime in the early-1950s.
A closer address is 4701 Avenue O, Fort Madison, IA.
Google Maps has updated their addresses and this puts it right on the property.
Today, you can barely make out the ramps on the south side of the property. The only other remnant is the edge of the entrance road as it connects to Avenue O.
https://tinyurl.com/2p9dcd9a
This was The Frisina Madison Drive-In operated by Frisina Amusements by 1974 per the North Lee County Historical Society. Photo added with that name on the marquee. There was also a Frisina Drive-In in Taylorville Illinois.
Highway 2 and Avenue O are one in the same.
Approximate address 4583 Avenue O on the west side of town. You can still see the ramps. https://goo.gl/maps/3Hc4E