Pawnee Drive-In

2400 South Broadway Street,
Wichita, KS 67211

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Additional Info

Architects: Homer K. Brunk

Nearby Theaters

Pawnee Drive-In

According to the Wichita Eagle newspaper, the Pawnee Drive-In opened on July 4, 1950 with John Wayne in “Red River”. Car capacity was 500. The Pawnee Drive-In was closed on August 13, 1972 with John Wayne in “The Cowboys” & Dick Van Dyke in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. It was demolished in the 1970’s.

Contributed by Ridgewood Ken

Recent comments (view all 8 comments)

kwilkin1962
kwilkin1962 on September 11, 2013 at 8:35 pm

The Pawnee opened on July 4, 1950. It’s first movie was “Red River”, starring John Wayne.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 18, 2013 at 12:26 pm

The Pawnee Drive-In was designed by Wichita architect Homer K. Brunk, as noted in his entry in the 1962 AIA directory.

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on November 23, 2013 at 5:57 am

I uploaded the screen tower picture for the non-Facebook users.

Lyndon
Lyndon on April 4, 2015 at 4:56 am

Here are some memories of the Pawnee.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 28, 2021 at 8:18 am

Last season: 1972

rivest266
rivest266 on April 1, 2021 at 3:36 pm

Grand opening ad posted.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on November 5, 2022 at 7:01 am

Operators Woody Barritt and Al McClure left Fox Midwest to operate this venue. They closed it on August 13, 1972 with John Wayne in “The Cowboys” and Dick Van Dyke in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The pair auctioned off the the remnants of the drive-in to raze the Rainbow Drive-In in favor of the rebuilt Landmark Twin Drive-In (later Starlite).

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on November 5, 2022 at 8:30 am

The site is now an Advance Motor Sales store, Subway, and a Walmart store.

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