Iaeger

Iaeger, West Virginia

This is the site of the Hotshot Eastbound, the drive-in in the famous 1956 steam train photograph by O. Winston Link. The theater looked tiny just from the front right section you could see in the photograph, and you can see from the map that the theater is wedged in hard between the river on one side and the railroad on the other, at the base of a canyon (1955 capacity: 142). Patrons would seem to have to drive in to the place from over the river to get there from the highway. You can also see from the map and the photo that the train really was traveling eastbound.

The date of 1956 is also notable, because theaters were well into wider aspect ratios on their screens. This theater coped by blacking out the bottom part of the screen to make the image "wider."

I don't know what has happened to the theater today. Of course, it is missing from on-line phone book listings; but I don't know what happened to the land.

Terraserver photo of Iaeger. It's returned to being an undeveloped lot, probably a farmer's field.

The American Drive-in Movie Theater has a sidebar about this photo on page 100, but they call the theater the Laeger.

See the photo. (From Cherry Creek Cyclery & More)

Back to Drive-ins page.