Salem natives Nathan and Amy McDonald recently purchased the Route 66 Drive-In Theater off Route 66 in Carthage. The previous owners, Mark and Dixie Goodman, bought the property in 1985 after it had closed and used it as a junkyard.

When the Goodman family purchased it, they operated it as an auto parts business for about 10 years. The restoring of the theatre began in 1996, and it reopened in 1998. The McDonalds bought the business Feb. 1.

The original drive-in was opened in 1949 at the start of the drive-in theater craze. There was a popularity boom in the economy and Route 66 was a major highway that connected Chicago to Los Angeles.

“A guy in Fort Scott, Kansas, had done it; I thought it was a great idea,” said Goodman. “It’s a big open lot, it had chat down, you could put cars out there and it worked out great. The location we were at wasn’t very good, but everyone knew where the 66 was, so it worked out good.”

Nathan McDonald, a 1995 Salem High School graduate and former Salem Police Department officer, is the son of Keith and Rita McDonald of Salem. Amy graduated from SHS in 1996 and is the daughter of Danny and Judy Boxx of Salem. The couple moved from Salem in 2006, and Nathan worked for the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office until he began working security at the drive-in in 2007. He has stayed there ever since.

“Over the course of 10 years, I just fell in love with the place,” McDonald told John Hacker of The Carthage Press on March 13. “The atmosphere, the venue, the family-friendly environment; it’s just a really unique situation, and I wanted to be a part of it. So, I was very fortunate and honored enough for them [the Goodmans] to pass the torch to me and my family so we can carry it on and build on what they built.”

The Route 66 Drive-In Theater is currently ranked in the top 10 of Drive-In Theaters in the nation by USA Today, but Nathan McDonald believes, “it should be number one, as it is the last original Route 66 drive-in in full operation.

In an article from Oct. 15, 2013, in USA Today, Larry Bleiberg quoted Don Sanders, a drive-in historian who has co-written two books and produced a movie on the theaters, as saying, “This Midwest theater proudly proclaims its connection to Route 66 in its name and neon sign, which was restored about 10 years ago. . .The setting is old-fashioned and family friendly with a playground and dedicated field for tossing a Frisbee and kicking a ball.”

Glenda Pike, a longtime member of the Missouri Route 66 Association, said the theater is a major landmark for tourists who trace Route 66. It is the oldest and most intact historic drive-in theater located direct on Route 66 in Missouri, according to documents filed with the National Park Service in 2003, when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“People come to see that drive-in from all over the world,” Pike told Koby Levin, writer for The Joplin Globe. “It’s listed in all kinds of Route 66 information books.”

The theater is open late March until late October, and shows movies Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. They show two films each night with a 10-minute intermission between. The film used for intermission is the same one that was used in 1949, when the theater first opened. The gates open approximately one hour before show time (7 p.m.), and the first show starts at 8 p.m.

“The atmosphere of this place is amazing,” said Nathan McDonald. “We do not show any R-rated movies, with strong focus on the families. There’s just something about sitting out there on a nice warm summer evening, then the show would come up and you could enjoy it with your family. You can’t take that away.”

To also focus more on families, they have the original playground equipment that was installed in the 1950s. There is also a concession stand on site where they serve hot dogs, chili dogs, polish dogs, BBQ sandwiches, nachos, popcorn, drinks, candy, and more. Customers are allowed to bring outside food in, but they do encourage them to buy from the concession stand since the film companies take a sizeable percentage of the ticket price and they pay the bills with the money from the concession stand. There is no grilling allowed and alcohol is prohibited in the theater.

Admission prices are $8 for ages 13 and up, $4 for ages 6-12, and free for ages 5 and under.

“It is important to us that we offer affordable family entertainment,” said the McDonalds. “We carefully choose our movies and negotiate with the film companies to offer the best double features possible. Film companies offer special double feature prices to drive-ins, but they often dictate which two movies can be combined for a double feature.”

Rain doesn’t affect the picture, so the show does go on even with bad weather. If it is too bad though (such as tornado warnings), they won’t have a showing. They do recommend bringing chairs and a radio to sit outside, but customers aren’t allowed to sit on top of a vehicle. There are no saving spaces for other vehicles; it is a first come, first serve basis.

“What makes it so great is because it is so clean, it is so well kept, it’s on the route, it focuses on the family,” said McDonald. “That’s the draw. Since I started working here in the last 10 years, every time I would sit here on a nice Sunday evening in the warm sunset, I wanted to be a bigger part of it. I’ve been given an amazing opportunity, it’s something that the more you hear, the more you want to be here.”

For more information, check out the theater’s website at www.66drivein.com, email at 66dit@ecarthage.com, or call at 417-359-5959. The address is 66 Drive-In Theatre, 17231 Old 66 Boulevard, Carthage, Missouri, 64836.