Family Drive-In

50sSNIPES on July 8, 2026 at 1:28 am

Fun Fact: The Family Drive-In was originally planned to open as the Somerset Drive-In when the city council granted a green light to give Somerset a permit to build the city’s first drive-in in April 1950. However, the opinion was immediately reversed by the council in November 1950 because of everything from lights, crowds, congestion, and noises would constitute a nuisance and would be injurious to the health of people residing in Somerset, causing a destruction of quietness and peaceful use and enjoyment in their homes.

The application of a man named J.C. Edwards for a permit to operate a drive-in theater on his farm north of Somerset on Highway 27 was immediately denied by Pulaski County Court led by County Judge C.I. Ross on January 18, 1951, but had received questions about location and noise complaints. The court responded in an opinion that if a drive-in theater was construction on Highway 27, not only to be created but also become a situation of great danger to those people using the highway and visiting the theater.

Despite the controversy, Somerset already received its first drive-in south of town right at a more appropriate location near Burnside, the Lakeview, which opened on June 7, 1951 (and operated for 35 years), as Somerset’s first drive-in. The Family Drive-In opened around a week or two later in late-June 1951.

MichaelKilgore on January 14, 2023 at 6:51 pm

Here’s a summary of Somerset’s drive-in history, as printed in the Commonwealth-Journal of July 13, 1986. (The original article failed to notice that the Family and Lakeview were both built in 1951, so I skipped over those erroneous notes.)

“Ben Johnson … operated Family Drive-In from 1961 to 1965 for his father, who owned the outdoor theater from … 1953. When the lights of the new Tradewind shopping center interfered with movies showing across U.S. 27 at the Family Drive-In the theater closed and was replaced by Hardee’s and Cumberland Security Bank, Johnson said. He then purchased Lakeview Drive-In from its builders and owners, Hogan Teater, J.T. Pollard and Ralph Eller … Prior to Johnson’s purchase, Lakeview was being operated by Harry Roaden, whose uncle, O.G. Roaden, leased the theater from Teater. Pollard and Eller between 1956 and 1966. As Johnson took over at Lakeview, Roaden built 27 Twin Drive-In in 1967. He added a second screen in 1981.”