Back in October 2000, I bid on, and won, a scanner for my computer. On learning that the seller was located in Fredericksburg, I decided to drive there from San Antonio to pick it up in person.

I'd heard there was a "dead" drive-in located in Fredericksburg known as "The Highway 87 Theater". This would be my first solo attempt to find a "dead" drive-in. I wondered if I could do it. I had no other information other than the name of the property.

The morning of the trip, I woke up to find it raining heavily. I came very close to cancelling the trip. I decided to leave early and take extra precautions on the highway. A good thing too! It rained the entire drive up to Fredericksburg. I had to pull off the road twice because I was unable to see through the rain. As I reached the outskirts of Fredericksburg, I was elated to see "The Highway 87 Theater". I was surprised to find it so easily! At the same time, I was greatly disappointed as it was still raining too hard to take pictures or to investigate the property on foot. I drove on to pick up my scanner. On the way back, the rain had mostly stopped and I was able to get these pictures. I want to apologize for their poor quality. I had 100 speed film in the camera from a previous outing. Due to the heavy cloud cover, the day wasn't really bright enough for this speed film. Still, poor pictures are better than no pictures!

The "Highway 87 Theater" is located behind a GMC dealership on the right side of the north/westbound lane of Highway 87. This picture was taken from inside my car. I was parked just inside the dealership property. The Highway 87 logo is just barely visible in this picture.

I drove my car deeper into the sales lot and over to the left. A porch is barely visible over a door into the back of the screen tower. The depth of the screen tower is very obvious in this picture. The small sales building next to screen tower provides a sense of scale not often seen in drive-in pictures.

I drove even closer for this picture. On the right side of the screen, there is a vertical framework supporting the edge of the screen. This framework is similar to that found at the Mission Drive-In. This suggests to me that the Highway 87 screen, like the original screen at the Mission, was widened after the tower was constructed. Clearly, more investigation is called for!

More Highway 87!

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