Boro Drive In Theater

The very first drive-in movie theater opened in New Jersey on June 6, 1933. The popularity of drive-ins peaked during the late 1950s and early 1960s when some 4,000 drive-ins were located across the United States. One of these was the Boro Drive-In Theater located on Route One, at the base of Red Rock Hill, near the border between Attleborough and North Attleborough.

The Boro was located on a 9-acre site and had a 500-car capacity. It followed the pattern of most drive-ins with a snack bar that offered popcorn, candy, french fries, soda, and coffee. The Boro opened during the summer of 1949. In the July 2, 1949 issue of Boxoffice Magazine, the Manley Popcorn Company saluted the opening of the Boro Drive-In Theater in North Attleborough.

By the late 1970, the novelty of watching a movie from your car had lost its appeal. With the advent of color televisions, VCRs, video rentals, and multi-plex cinemas, drive-in business across the country went into a sharp decline. The Boro, like so many others, closed for good during the late 1970s. The Boro remained standing for several years before being demolished. Today the site is occupied by the Christmas Tree Shop and its parking area.

There was a further indignity that the Boro had good-naturedly suffered throughout its existence - which concerned how people pronounced the name Boro. The back of the movie screen faced Route One. It was on this surface that the word Boro was written largely in a cursive style type font. To some people, the letter "R"  looked like the letter "Z" with the result that many called it the Bozo. Some were kidding, but there were others who really thought that was the name.