Hadley Drive-In
310 Russell Street,
Hadley,
MA
01035
310 Russell Street,
Hadley,
MA
01035
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I think the thing that really did in the Hadley Drive In was when they converted their sound system from car speakers to an FM radio frequency.Hate to tell you how many cars parked across the street in the Mutual Hardware parking lot,tuned in the frequency on their car radio and saw the movie for free since the drive in never put up any kind of fence to block the screen from the highway.
Technically that would be 310 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035, since, in Hadley, Russell Street is Route 9.
310 Massachusetts 9, Hadley, MA 01035
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in.
Here is a 1971 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.
In 1956 it parked 400 cars.No change. It was owned by Hadley Drive-in Theatres.
The drive-in closed around 1976. Eventually the screen was torn down, and a home & garden center was built on part of the site. That has since turned into a thrift store. Last time I looked, some of the posts that held the portable car speakers were still sitting in the ground in the areas closer to the screen.
Also, I had the wrong location in my original post. It was on Rt.9, not 116. I think R.Noyes is more accurate on the closing approximation than mine. Early 80’s sounds right.
If memory serves me correctly, the drive-in closed in the early 80s, if not the late 70s. I wish I had a definitive date.
I would guess during the mid to late ‘80’s. There was a crafts type store on that site until around 2004. I believe there is a second hand charity shop there presently.
when did this close down?