Key City Drive-In
Abilene, Texas1952-1968
Browse Key City Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. Its builder billed the Key City in Abilene, Texas, as the world's finest drive-in, and the screen tower carried Key City in vertical letters with a round emblem of a rider on a rearing horse. It closed in 1968 with The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. Pick a style below, then read the full Key City history 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
Key City Drive-In History
The Key City Drive-In in Abilene, Texas, opened on October 8, 1952, with Cornel Wilde in At Sword's Point. Key City was a nickname for Abilene at the time. The theater stood at 1750 North Treadaway Boulevard, with one screen, room for 600 cars, and enclosed seating for about 300 walk-in customers. Its builder, Maurice S. Cole, billed it as the world's finest drive-in.
The screen tower was a broad stepped block, with Key City running down one side in vertical letters and a round emblem of a rider on a rearing horse in the center of the front. Billboard reported in September 1953 that Cole had sold it to All State Theaters, the circuit of E.L. Williamson and his wife. Video Independent Theatres took over about ten years in.
Wind was hard on it. Boxoffice reported storm damage in 1960, and a 1968 storm knocked down the attraction board and damaged the tower. That year the owners tried a price of 49 cents a carload, which lasted about six months. The Key City closed on December 6, 1968, with The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, and it was torn down in 1974. Most of the land is still an open field.