People driving through Fountain Springs during the 1980s and 1990s may recall some old graffiti.. Some scorned lover at the time used the old Hi-Way Drive-in sign along Route 61 to advertise his (or her?) love for Sandy..
To this day we don’t know who painted it.. we don’t know who Sandy was. And we will maybe never know if it was a match secured, or love lost.. Just photos remain now, with all remnants and memories of this once amazing drive-in forever forfeited to history.
The Hi-Way Drive-In was opened on May 28, 1949 with the film Yvonne De Carlo in “River Lady”. By 1955 it was operated by Paul Kerrigan & Milgram Theatres.
It may be some interesting history to know, but the Kerrigans also launched the popular Harrisburg Drive-In in Lower Paxton at the same time…
When Kerrigan opened the Hi-Way that fateful May day in ’49, it was bragged up to include the area’s biggest screen at that time. There were individual speakers, adults got in for 42 cents and children were able to enter for free..
Ads at the time made you feel comfortable. They said ‘don’t dress up, come as you are.’
Today we have pajama wearers at Walmart.. then we had them at drive-ins during the starry summer nights..
A number of businesses from the surrounding area were proud to advertise and be a part of the Hi-Way opening. Sadly all of the proud businesses are now closed..
Along with the biggest screen in the state at the time, headlines also blared that Kerrigan’s drive-in had no expenses spared in this new entertainment center addition to the highway between Ashland and Frackville.
Newspapers in 1949 explained the process, with this from the Pottsville Republican on 27 May 1949:
“Patrons will enter a four-lane drive and procure tickets without leaving the automobile. Thoughtful attendants will wash and clean windshields, applying a special preparation that will cause precipitation to run off completely, leaving the vision unblurred”
By 1950, the drive-in opened again.. Proud of a successful first season with room for 400 cars a night, it continued allowing children in for free, and giving them free popcorn.
OWNERSHIP CHANGE
The Kerrigans ceased their involvement in the waning days of the 1950s. On June 6, 1957, it was reported that new owners took over the Hi-Way.
Melvin Heinbach of St. Clair.. the screen was upgraded to modern technology and the owner said he would play only the finest of Hollywood films.
but……
What happened to justice in Schuylkill County?
By 1969, controversy erupted at the Hi-Way drive in!
Melvin Heinbach penned an editorial that appeared in a number of local fishwrappers decrying what he felt as justice delayed.
Heinbach, along with others, were charged with by the local district attorney as “holding an obscene exhibition and corrupting the morals of children” after the drive in showed the film ‘THERESA & ISABELLE.’
Heinbach went on to say that the film was not banned as being obscene, that the Supreme Court don’t allow for films to be banned.. Heinbach went on to argue that the attention the District Attorney gave the Hi-Way drive-in was unfair, as the film was being advertised and played in many local theaters, and that the Hi-Way was the target of a ‘puritanical action.’
AND AS TIMES CHANGE, IT’S INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE FULL FILM IS NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE TODAY FOR FREE..
yawn………………………..
x x x
FIRE BAD
Years after the softcore porn bust, the Hi-Way drive in faced another problem: Flames.
In September 1975, the location had a fire that was reported at the time to be accidental in nature.
At the time, the state fire Marshall Lawrence Postupack labeled a fire at the Hi-way as accidental. According to the report, an electrical short caused the blaze in the kitchen and concession stand on the property. The food area was gutted but the the projection booth was saved.
END OF AN ERA
The Hi-Way muddled through the late 20th century, staying open alive as can be through the late 1980s as Ronald Reagan’s presidency waned.
As the drive-in began to fall victim to time itself, there were some things recalled fondly by those in history.
Back in 2000, the Republican Herald rang in a new century by reminiscing about the past. Paul Kerrigan’s sister-in-law Ione Geier penned an article about the aspects of 20th century life that were gone for good. Including Paul Kerrigan’s drive-in:
Geier wrote about memories, including this portion about the drive-in that they were so fraught with teenagers making out, and heavy petting, that they became known as passion pits. $1 car loads. French fries. .Popcorn.. and lust under the summer moon…
By the late 1980s, during the waning days of drive-ins everywhere including Pennsylvania, ads appeared in the newspaper selling off the once prestigious acres of those famed passion pits.
Sold off! As so many other drive-ins were at the time…
Those acres now have erased all memories that a drive-in theater once existed..
All memories of the passion pits.
The free popcorn..
And yes, all memories of Sandy .. and whoever decided to use the old sign to profess love for her. Forever etched in our minds.. and history….
