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Governor Ritchie Drive-In
Ritchie Highway (MD 2), Glen Burnie, MD
years of operation: 1939-83
currently: Chesapeake Square shopping center

A year after building Virginia's first drive-in, the Mt. Vernon, on May 14, 1939 E.M. Loew Theatres of Boston opened Maryland's first, the Ritchie, or as it was formally known, E.M. Loew's Governor Ritchie Open Air Theatre (whew!) The debut feature was Gunga Din. The Loew circuit (no affiliation with Loew's Inc., owners of MGM, hotels and various fabled indoor palaces, although Elias M. Loew was a member of that family) held onto it to the end -- a showing of An Officer and a Gentleman and 48 Hrs. a week before Christmas 1983. The venerable screen stood where a Pizza Hut is today.
"The screen included an apartment underneath where the manager or operator lived. There was a fire in the apartment and I believe that there was a fatality. I can not remember the year. Originally, the speakers were on white wooden posts that served two cars." -- Larry Johnson

Click here for an interactive 1964 aerial photo of the drive-in (zoom in or out, or compare to older or newer photos of the same site).

Click here to see the 1974 USGS map of the Governor Ritchie Drive-In and surrounding area.

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