Falcon Drive-In
Collinsville, Illinois1949-1983
Shop Falcon Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Collinsville, Illinois, theater opened as the Mounds Drive-In near Monks Mound at Cahokia. The state bought the land to enlarge Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, and its last newspaper ad offered free popcorn, soda and coffee. Pick a style below, then read the full Falcon history further down. Every shirt is printed to order in the USA and carries the memories of bygone places and teams.
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Falcon Drive-In History
The Falcon Drive-In in Collinsville, Illinois, opened on July 3, 1949, as the Mounds Drive-In, with Melody Time. It stood on Collinsville Road, near Monks Mound at Cahokia, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas, and had an East St. Louis mailing address. Cinema Treasures says a few smaller mounds were bulldozed to build it. It held about 700 cars, though one trade paper called it a 1,000-car lot.
In early 1960 Mid-America Theatres of St. Louis took over and renamed it the Falcon. A commenter says the chain liked car model names and also ran a Thunderbird, a Capri and a Bel-Air. A flood in June 1957 had already left the lot standing in water, and in 1962 a patron sued after a passing car knocked a speaker into his head.
By the 1970s the Falcon was showing X-rated films, and Cinema Treasures says people watched from the tops of nearby mounds. Then the state bought it to enlarge Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Its own last newspaper ad announced this under the words Last Chance, offered free popcorn, soda and coffee, and asked customers to witness a chapter in history closing. The final night was Sunday, January 16, 1983.
The lot was cleared and joined to the historic site. According to Cinema Treasures, a picnic area there keeps the Falcon name, and some old speaker posts now serve as trail markers.