Former Sunset Drive-In big screen in Ontario takes a final bow

Lou Whitmire, Mansfield News Journal
Updated ·3 min read
The Sunset Drive-In big screen was dropped Tuesday to make way for a new barn for Buckeye Barn Salvage at Ohio 309 and 314.
The Sunset Drive-In big screen was dropped Tuesday to make way for a new barn for Buckeye Barn Salvage at Ohio 309 and 314.

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP − The landmark former Sunset Drive-In Theatre, just outside Ontario, marked its final chapter Tuesday morning.

The big steel screen was dropped to make way for a retention pond and new barn for the Shelby-area barn salvage business that opened in the location in 2019.

"When we build the retention pond, we'll take the clay out of the ground and use it for our building pad. So this has to go," said Joe Lykins, the owner of Buckeye Barn Salvage, who bought the 13-acre property at 4018 Ohio 309 in 2019. He has been in the barn business for over 12 years.

A Shelby native, he said his business buys old barns, disassembles them and sets them back up as new homes or venues. If the frame isn't good enough to reset, he said the company reclaims and recycles as much as possible.

"People are going to hate me," he said after the screen was dropped.

A worker cuts a support bean before the big screen at the former Sunset Drive-In was dropped Tuesday to make way for a new barn at Buckeye Barn Salvage at Ohio 309 and 314.
A worker cuts a support bean before the big screen at the former Sunset Drive-In was dropped Tuesday to make way for a new barn at Buckeye Barn Salvage at Ohio 309 and 314.

History of Sunset Drive-In

The drive-in has been closed for several years.

Opened as the Mansfield-Galion Drive-In on June 19, 1947, the drive-in had a parking capacity for 500 cars featuring beside-the-car speakers. The theater was renamed Sunset Drive-In on April 17, 1953.

But operating a drive-in movie theatre isn't financially possible for most people anymore, Lykins said. "There's just no money in it."

Lykins said Mansfield Structural built the big screen.

This was the site's third big screen, he said, noting he tried to give the big screen away for free, but got no takers except for one person who said he'd take it if Lykins would take it apart and deliver it. That's not happening. A Dumpster is coming Wednesday.

Lykins said he used to come to the Sunset Drive-In when he was in high school. The projection room/concession stand building still stands.

The big screen at the former Sunset Drive-In is no more. Buckeye Barn Salvage dropped the screen Tuesday at the business outside Ontario.
The big screen at the former Sunset Drive-In is no more. Buckeye Barn Salvage dropped the screen Tuesday at the business outside Ontario.

Barn business booming

Lytkins said his company has taken down hundreds of barns, the majority in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

"The nicest barns are in Ohio because of the white oak used to build them," he said.

Lykins came to work in the barn salvage business by chance when building a house in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A general contractor he worked for had a factory where they made flooring out of reclaimed barn wood.

A self-described "barn geek," he said he especially likes taking down cantilevered bank barns.

He already has started dismantling a timber-framed barn and is going to have to wait for codes and permits to approve his plans for the addition to his home in rural Richland County.

"I'm bringing an old 1820s timber-frame from Overton Valley, just west of Wooster," he said.

Lykins said he loves all the history involved with the barns.

"It's all the history involved in it. I try to preserve as much as I can," he said. That's what this whole yard is about. Some of these timbers were grown in the 13 and 1400s."

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario drive-in big screen falls to make way for pond and barn