Fairyland Drive-In
Kansas City, Missouri1961-1986
Browse Fairyland Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Kansas City theater stood across Prospect Avenue from Fairyland Park and was built for about 1,500 cars. Its sign was a swooping pylon with the name in script on a long raked blade. Choose a style below, and the full Fairyland 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
Fairyland Drive-In History
The Fairyland Drive-In in Kansas City, Missouri, opened in late August 1961 with Parrish and The Last Sunset. It stood on Prospect Avenue at about 76th Street, across from Fairyland Park, an amusement park that had run there since 1923. Architect John C. Monroe listed it among his projects for that year. It was built for about 1,500 cars. The entrance was on Prospect, while the screens sat several blocks away.
Its sign was a swooping pylon, with Fairyland in script on a long raked blade and a marquee hung below. In spring 1962 the theater added a 50 by 50 foot playground for small children only, next to the concession stand. A second screen came by 1969.
The park closed for good after 1977. In its last years the drive-in ran the same kind of bill every week, according to one commenter: martial arts on one screen and soft-core films on the other, with two small marquees at the driveway reading Fu and X. A commenter gives its closing as September 1, 1986. The sign was photographed still in good shape in 1987 and 1988. A freeway now runs through the area, and townhomes and a school stand on the land.