Dixie Drive-In
3525 N. Vermilion Street,
Danville,
IL
61832
3525 N. Vermilion Street,
Danville,
IL
61832
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The Dixie Drive-In was opened May 11, 1949 with Bud Abbott & Lou Costello in “Pardon My Sarong”. It was located just north of Liberty Lane on Illinois Route 1 (North Vermilion Street, also known as the Dixie Highway). The original 63 feet by 58 feet wide tower was patterned after the front of a typical Southern mansion. The back of the tower had the screen. It was built for 700 cars.
The original builders were Roy O'Keefe amd James Wendling. The original cost of construction was $125,000. The original tower was destroyed in a thunder/wind storm June 10, 1963 and was replaced with a non-descript screen. Later expanded to a three screen, showed last films in 1983 and was torn down in May 1985. A car wash and apartment building were built on the site of the drive-in.
Contributed by
Kevin R. Young
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
For most of its life the Dixie was one of 3 Danville area drive ins owned by Butler Enterprises (Jack Butler). The tri-screening project in the early ‘70s was a joint venture of Butler, Phil Gibson and Daniel Welsch. The original main (front) screen equipment consisted of two IPC Super Simplex projection heads w/Bausch & Lomb optics and fast intermittents, RCA optical sound heads and 6-KW xenon lamps from Optical Radiation Corp. Film handling was performed near-flawlessly by POTS air-system platters. The automation controller was homebrew but logged many hours of trouble-free up time.
When the 2 back screens were added a separate projection booth was built behind the concession stand. IPC heads again with ORC lamphouses but with what appeared to be a crude homemade wooden frame film delivery system using 28" reels. All very much out of character compared to the fairly deluxe operations on the front (primary) screen. The 2 back screens themselves were something to behold, with aluminum trailer siding nailed onto 2x4s supported on kreosote poles. Annual spring breezes frequently took their toll on the 2 back screens, as did occasional summer storms.
The Dixie Drive-In Theatre opened on May 11, 1949 with Abbott & Costello in “Pardon My Sarong.”