According to DriveInMovie, Pennsylvania has up to 29 drive-in theaters left, including the oldest in America, which is located in Lehigh County. The state also has four of them in midstate Dauphin County, York County, Juniata County, and Cumberland County.
The oldest, Shankweiler’s Drive-In, was established in the early ‘30s in Orefield, which is home to over 8,000 residents. The Guinness Book of Records documented the theater, which opened in April 1934 to have been built less than a year after the first ever in New Jersey.
The drive-in underwent steady development
Per Shankweiler’s Drive-In website, speakers poles and car speakers were installed in 1948, followed by a new CinemaScope Screen, a snack bar, a projection room, and a restroom building years later. In 1982, AM radio micro-vicinity broadcasting was introduced, paving the way for FM radio micro-vicinity four years later.
