Parkaway Drive-In
Roberts Matthews Highway,
Sparta,
TN
38583
Roberts Matthews Highway,
Sparta,
TN
38583
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Park-A-Way Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Park-A-Way Drive-In was opened by 1948.
Contributed by
Brandon Sneed
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog lists the Park-A-Way, Sparta-Cookeville Hwy., Exec: Jack Mitchell. 12-month, 7-day schedule, single features changing 4 times a week, 300 car capacity. Ditto the 1949-50 Catalog.
It’s gone by the 1952 Catalog. Weird!
The 1959 IMPA lists the Parkaway at 200 cars. It was still listed in the 1976 IMPA but gone by the 1982 edition.
I posted this on the Sparta Drive-In page, so I apologize if it repeats here.
A 1951 aerial view of Sparta only shows the Sparta Drive-In which is located on the highway between Sparta and Cookeville. There is no indication of another drive-in along that highway between the two towns at that time which I could see.
Given the odd listings in IMPA NeonMichael cited, including the location and similar size in car capacity, it seems that the Sparta and the Park-A-Way may be the same. Or, perhaps a mistake has been made as there is a “Parkaway Drive-In” located in Maryville, TN.
Its most likely that the Park-A-Way only operated for around two seasons.
50sSNIPES - This comment from the information MichaelKilgore found which is on the Sparta Drive-In page seems to lean towards a name change.
“How old is it? In 2013, (then-?)owner Tommy Brown told ABC News that the Sparta was built in 1943, so that’s probably it. The 1952 Theatre Catalog lists the Sparta, yet earlier Catalogs showed the Park-A-Way in Sparta but not the Sparta Drive-In. (The IMPAs listed both for a while, so it’s probably not a name change.)”
If the drive-in was built in 1943, it seems likely that it was originally called the “Park-A-Way” and then changed to the “Sparta” Drive-In at some later point, but certainly by 1952.
The IMPA listing both afterwards was more likely confusion on its part. Believing they were different drive-ins for a time. However, given that all other information (location & car capacity) is the same, this to me seems like what happened.
But if you assume the Park-A-Way was a separate drive-in, then the information MichaelKilgore reports makes little sense.
The Sparta Drive-In would’ve had to open in 1943, close in the late 1940s, and re-open again in 1952. Running for decades until appearing to close for much of the 1990s before re-opening after renovation in the early 2000s.
The Park-A-Way would’ve had to open when the Sparta Drive-In closed in the late 1940s, close by 1952. Re-open by 1959 and run until at 1976 until finally being left off in 1982 at least in IMPA.
And all that time there is no evidence of a second drive-in along the highway. So, I’m leaning towards name change.