On the corner of Ford Road and Wyoming Avenue in Dearborn an attractive new outdoor theater was erected in early 1950, it was to be named the Ford-Wyoming Drive-In. Owner Clyde Clark, and his sons Clyde Jr, James, and Harold, opened their new theater on Friday, May 19, 1950. Opening night featured "The Man from Colorado" starring Glenn Ford and William Holden. It was the 13th drive-in to open in the Metro Detroit area since 1938.

Five short years after opening, the Ford-Wyoming was to undergo some major construction. Hollywood introduced a new “CinemaScope” wide-screen format for movies in 1953, which required theater screens to be widened substantially. The existing screen was widened by adding “wings” on either side to accommodate the new films. The new screen opened Friday, April 1, 1955 with "King Richard And The Crusaders" and "Ring Of Fear” showing. The lucky attendees were offered free souvenirs, and suckers for the kids.

The Clark family successfully operated the popular theater for 30 years. One unfortunate incident did occur near the end of their tenure. There was a serious fire in the screen tower in early 1979. The fire damage was quickly repaired, and the theater resumed operations.

Charles and Martin Shafer, co-owners of Wayne Amusements, purchased the Ford-Wyoming from the Clark family in 1981 for the sum of $1 million dollars.The Shafers began an ambitious expansion plan by adding a second screen in May 1982. Screen 3 followed in January 1983, screen 4 in May 1986, and screen 5 in May 1988. Further expansion occurred in May 1991 with the opening of the Ford-Wyoming 6-8, which was around the corner on Wyoming Avenue, in a separate lot. The 6-8 theater added screen 9 in June 1995. It was closed in September 2009 after the lease ran out on the property. The Wayne Amusements empire included indoor theaters, and 7 drive-ins, including the Ford-Wyoming 1-5. The other drive-ins were the Algiers, Dearborn, Ecorse, Ford-Wyoming 6-9, Wayne, and Willow. The Shafers gradually closed these other drive-ins, and several of those screens were relocated and erected at the Ford-Wyoming. One of the unused screens ended up going to Capri Drive-In in Coldwater in 1986, making it a twin. The Ford-Wyoming 1-5 is the last theater in the Shafer’s chain, and 1 of 10 surviving drive-ins in the state of Michigan. [©2022 MichiganDrive-Ins.com 8/21/22]