Elmwood Skyline Drive-In
Abilene, Texas1947-1965
Browse Elmwood Skyline Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. It was the first drive-in in Abilene, Texas, and its ads used a smiling moon. In 1948 the new owners added individual speakers that talked back, so customers could order food from the car. Choose a style below, and the full Elmwood Skyline history is further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
4 products
Elmwood Skyline Drive-In History
The Elmwood Skyline Drive-In in Abilene, Texas, began as the Skyline, the city's first drive-in. It opened on April 1, 1947, at 3300 South 14th Street, with John Wayne in Tall in the Saddle. Two veterans, Carroll Jones and Chuck Williams, built it near McMurry College. Sound came from one central speaker system, and it shut down in November that first year to rethink the sound.
George and Ruth Likins bought it in 1948 and reopened it that May with individual speakers that talked back. Customers could hear the picture or call the concession stand and order food from the car. The ads of the day used a smiling moon and promised something new under it. The name went through South 14th Street Elmwood Skyline before settling on Elmwood Skyline in 1953. In-car heaters kept it open through the winter, and the Likins family later put up a new red brick wide-screen tower.
Ruth Likins took an offer of $225,000 for the land. The last show was on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1965, a double bill of Yellowstone Kelly and Wind Across the Everglades. The theater came down in January 1966 for a bank building, and the site still holds a bank and offices.