Businesses Past...

by Richard D. L. Fulton

Monocacy Drive-In Theater

The Monocacy Drive-in Theater opened on August 24, 1952, and was located on Route 140 (Taneytown-Emmitsburg Road), near Taneytown.

The coming of a new drive-in theater was initially announced in the August 26, 1952, edition of The (Frederick) News, which had reported that John G. Miller, owner of the Gem Theater in Emmitsburg, “will open for the first time his newly constructed ‘open-air’ theater (drive-in theaters were initially termed as being “open-air theaters”) between Emmitsburg and Taneytown, at Bridgeport on Saturday evening (August 30).”

It appears, however, that the opening was actually held on the evening of Friday, August 24, according to an article published in The (Frederick) News on August 29, completely at odds with the article published on August 26—perhaps the result of the “left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing” in the newspaper newsroom.

Miller assumed ownership of the Gem theater at 125 West Main Street in Emmitsburg in 1952. According to The News, in addition to owning a theater in Emmitsburg, Miller also owned a theater (in addition to the Taneytown drive-in) in Hancock.

According to cinematour.com, the Monocacy Drive-in Theater’s parking area could hold up to 337 cars. The first movie shown upon opening was Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair, starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, as reported on the cinematreasures.org website.

Heading into the 1960s, the Monocacy Drive-in Theater began to diversify the entertainment being provided, aside from simply showing movies. An advertisement that appeared in the June 1960 issue of The News announced that a stage show was scheduled to be held on June 19, featuring L.C. Smith & his Southern Mountain Boys… in a real hoe-down,” plus two motion pictures.

An advertisement placed in the March 30, 1962, issue of The News had stated that the charge to attend the theater was 65-cents per adult, and no charge for children.

It appears that the theater began to feature “adults only” films in 1965, when an advertisement appeared in the August 6, 1965, issue of The News, advertising the showing of “Glen or Glenda…. The strange case of a man who changed in sex, and Diary of a Nudist.”

The Monocacy Drive-in Theater did have its share of trials and tribulations in the 1970s.  The News reported on July 29, 1970, that $55.00 worth of food products were stolen from the theater, consisting of two cases of potato chips, four cases of cheese pizza, four cases of cigarettes, and a case of chocolate. 

During April 1975, a “young man” was transported from the theater to the Annie Warner Hospital (subsequently renamed the Gettysburg Hospital) in Gettysburg, after allegedly having suffered from an overdose of “CPC, said to be a tranquilizer often given to hogs,” according to the April 29, 1975, edition of The News. The incident occurred during a rock concert that was being held at the theater.

Thieves once again accessed the theater concession stand in 1976, when they had gained entry by “prying the doors off the hinges,” according to the August 2, 1976, issue of The News. The suspect or suspects had stolen 10 boxes of popcorn valued at $25.00.

The Monocacy Drive-in Theater closed on November 3, 1984, according to cinematreasures.org. The last film shown there was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, featuring Harrison Ford.

The Frederick News-Post reported in its April 14, 2003, edition that an effort was being made to establish a new drive-in theater at the site of the old one. According to driveins.org, the new theater was to be called Bumpers Drive-in Theater and was to have been comprised of two screens, parking for 400 cars, and have indoor seating, and was to have opened during the summer of 2007.

The Monocacy Drive-in Theater was probably lucky to have existed in the 1980s. According to the New York Film Academy website, there were as many as 4,000 drive-in theaters in the 1950s, which is now down to about 300. 

The decline has been blamed on the rise of home-entertainment systems and the rising costs on new technology that drive-in theaters would probably have to invest in, as well as the costs of the land.