Brazos Drive-In

The Brazos Drive-In opened in Granbury on June 5, 1952, according to Cinema Treasures, with Robert Cummings in The First Time on the screen. Mr. and Mrs. Fort Keith ran it, and the field held 250 cars. The drive-in's own history page describes it as family owned and operated since 1952 and in continuous operation ever since, one of a handful left in Texas, and it keeps a photograph of the lot under a heavy Granbury snow in 1956.

Jennifer Miller bought the Brazos in 1985. When Texas Co-op Power profiled the state's drive-ins in June 2019, it described the Brazos as one of the oldest in Texas, open every year since 1952 and closed only for the winter offseason, and noted that Miller had owned it for more than half that time. She ran the single-screen operation with a handful of employees and worked the concession stand every night it was open. When Hollywood's move from 35mm prints to digital projection threatened small drive-ins, she paid for the conversion herself. The same article puts the cost of a digital projector bright enough to throw an image across a drive-in field at upward of $70,000, enough to close many family-run theaters. Miller also turned part of the vintage snack bar into a small museum for the drive-in's old film projector and other memorabilia. The screen tower still carries its original architecture and name.

The Brazos survived a statewide collapse. Texas Co-op Power reported that some 400 drive-ins once operated in Texas and that fewer than 20 were open in 2019. Cinema Treasures carried a February 2014 news item that the drive-in was for sale; it stayed open.

Today the Brazos schedules double features on a single high-definition screen, with room for 250 cars, a children's play area beneath the screen, food delivered to cars, and well-behaved pets allowed.