Above: Circle Drive-In aerial view
Image courtesy of George E. Schnibben, Jr.
Perhaps the most well-remembered and popular outdoor theater in Florence was known as the Circle Drive-In.
Although the Benson brothers had inaugurated the drive-in era in Florence in 1946, it was a young man by the name of Thomas Shockley Roe who created its most lasting impression.
Roe was an enthusiastic businessman from Greenville. After marrying and moving to Florence in the 1930s, he opened the Sanborn Cigar Shop in the lobby of the old Sanborn Hotel on East Evans St. Roe also ran Home Service loans, as well as Modern Furniture Company, a furnishings and appliance store on West Evans St.
In 1948, Roe ventured into new territory by incorporating the Empire Theater Company and purchasing 7.6 acres of “raw land” outside of the city limits on what was then a rural undeveloped corner of town.
The entire northern boundary of the property was a long curve that connected Evans street to Cashua Ferry Road (it was not yet a true intersection). This curve gave the theater its shape and also its name: the Circle Drive-In.
The “Circle” opened for business on April 2, 1949.
Because it was accessible by two well maintained roads, and was much closer to the city than the Ace, Circle Drive-In quickly became the theater of choice for many Florentines.
Circle Drive-In plat
August 1948
Circle Drive-In grand opening ad
Florence Morning News
April 2, 1949
page 8
Circle Drive-In movie screen
Open air bleachers are visible on the left
Image courtesy of George E. Schnibben, Jr.
Roe heavily focused advertising on families. Children under 12 got in for free, and Roe even built a few rows of open air bleachers in front of the parking area for neighborhood children. He later added playground equipment, including a swing set and merry-go-round. There was also a shallow wading pool for, “small dips on hot days.”
Besides the cartoons that were shown between films, perhaps the biggest attraction for children was a small Ferris wheel between the ticket office and the concessions stand that Roe purchased from an amusement park at Myrtle Beach.
When movies were not being shown, Roe opened the grounds for children to play sandlot baseball, fly kites and model airplanes. As one reporter noted, Roe knew, “the value of advertising to the kids to get to the parents.”
Like the Ace, Circle Drive-In played most of the same big studio selections as the house theaters, and showed double features almost every night. The concessions stand was in the center of the lot, but the theater also offered a “roving snack cart” service if you didn’t want to leave your car.
Circle Drive-In sign as seen from Cashua Rd.
ca 1949
Image courtesy of George E. Schnibben, Jr.
Day-to-day management of the drive-in was left to Roe’s business partner, Dawson J. Stallworth. Stallworth was a native of Florence and former insurance agent who had served as an accountant at the Florence Army Air Base during WWII.
The entrance to Circle Drive-In was on the west side, at Cashua Drive, near King Avenue. After pulling in, cars turned left to purchase tickets from a small booth near the road. The screen faced toward the curved perimeter of the property, creating the perfect amphitheater shape for parking cars.
Roe ran the Circle Drive-In until 1957 when he sold it to Mr. and Mrs. George E. Schnibben, who already owned the city’s two most popular house theaters: the Colonial and the Carolina, on West Evans and South Dargan streets. The Schnibben family represented Florence Theaters Incorporated, which had been in the local theater business since 1932 when they purchased the old Opera House theater from local newspaper publisher John M. O’Dowd.
With the $75,000 sale of the drive-in to the Schnibbens, Roe invested in his most successful and longest lasting business venture, a chain of ladies apparel stores: The Village Shop and Shockley’s Casuals dress shop, located on Dargan St.
The “Circle” was neither Florence’s first nor last drive-in, but under the Florence Theater Company’s ownership, it continued to be Florence’s most popular outdoor theater during the height of the national drive-in craze.
After twenty years of operation, the Schnibben family sold the land to the Kroger grocery chain in 1978.
