A vintage view of the first enclosed and air-conditioned shopping mall in Texas.
Photo from the Texas Post Card Company
Showing posts with label Dallas' Big Town Mall (1959). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dallas' Big Town Mall (1959). Show all posts
Drawing from Federated Department Stores, Incorporated Annual Report 1955
An aerial of BIG TOWN MALL, looking southward. The Sanger Brothers (a.k.a. "Sanger's") anchor store is in the foreground with a Montgomery Ward off in the distance.
Photo from Oscar Slotboom / www.dfwfreeways.info
An aerial of BIG TOWN MALL, looking southward. The Sanger Brothers (a.k.a. "Sanger's") anchor store is in the foreground with a Montgomery Ward off in the distance.
Photo from Oscar Slotboom / www.dfwfreeways.info
Greater Dallas' BIG TOWN opened in February 1959 with much media fanfare. A fully-enclosed shopping mall was a big deal, as there were only two other regional-sized enclosed malls in the United States at the time. The original BIG TOWN spanned 600,000 leasable square feet, housed forty-five stores and services, and provided free parking for 4,000 autos.
BIG TOWN MALL TENANTS 1959:
SANGER BROTHERS / MONTGOMERY WARD (with freestanding Auto Center) / J.C. PENNEY / F.W. WOOLWORTH (with luncheonette) / WRIGLEY supermarket / Andes Candies / Big Town Beauty Salon / Big Town Barber Shop / Big Town Coffee Shop / Big Town Town Hall / Big Town Town Square / Bond Clothes / Butler Shoes / Dallas East Publishing Company / Federal Bake Shop / Gift Shack (kiosk) / Hallmark Cards (kiosk) / Hardy Shoes / Kinney Shoes / Lee Optical / Lerner Shops / Margo's La Mode / Mode O'Day Frock Shop / National Key (kiosk) / National Shirt Shops / Olan Mills Studio / Owen Shoes / Paris Hats / Phillipson's / Planters Peanuts (kiosk) / PPG Auto Glass / PPG Paints / Rexall Drug (with luncheonette) / Snack Shack (kiosk) / Tie Rak / Toy Fair / United Finance / Volk's / Wash -n- Dry Coin Laundry / Western Auto / Zale's Jewelers / Zinke's Shoe Repair / Zip Cleaners / Woolworth's Cafeteria
MEZZANINE (above Town Square):
Atlas Insurance / Big Town Mall Office
On hand at the February 1959 BIG TOWN MALL grand opening was none other than James Cash Penney (1875-1971). He personally opened his company's 38,000 square foot BIG TOWN store.
Photo from http://www.biography.com
Although BIG TOWN was Dallas' first enclosed mall, it wasn't the first in the Metroplex. This distinction goes to a nearly forgotten open-air complex in the city's Oak Cliff section. A. HARRIS OAK CLIFF CENTER was dedicated in February 1956. It was anchored by the first (and only) branch of A. Harris & Company. This chain was rebranded by Sanger-Harris in 1961.
BIG TOWN MALL TENANTS 1959:
SANGER BROTHERS / MONTGOMERY WARD (with freestanding Auto Center) / J.C. PENNEY / F.W. WOOLWORTH (with luncheonette) / WRIGLEY supermarket / Andes Candies / Big Town Beauty Salon / Big Town Barber Shop / Big Town Coffee Shop / Big Town Town Hall / Big Town Town Square / Bond Clothes / Butler Shoes / Dallas East Publishing Company / Federal Bake Shop / Gift Shack (kiosk) / Hallmark Cards (kiosk) / Hardy Shoes / Kinney Shoes / Lee Optical / Lerner Shops / Margo's La Mode / Mode O'Day Frock Shop / National Key (kiosk) / National Shirt Shops / Olan Mills Studio / Owen Shoes / Paris Hats / Phillipson's / Planters Peanuts (kiosk) / PPG Auto Glass / PPG Paints / Rexall Drug (with luncheonette) / Snack Shack (kiosk) / Tie Rak / Toy Fair / United Finance / Volk's / Wash -n- Dry Coin Laundry / Western Auto / Zale's Jewelers / Zinke's Shoe Repair / Zip Cleaners / Woolworth's Cafeteria
MEZZANINE (above Town Square):
Atlas Insurance / Big Town Mall Office
On hand at the February 1959 BIG TOWN MALL grand opening was none other than James Cash Penney (1875-1971). He personally opened his company's 38,000 square foot BIG TOWN store.
Photo from http://www.biography.com
Getting back to BIG TOWN, a freestanding Woolworth's Cafeteria stood on the northeast corner of the mall (it wasn't adjacent to the Woolworth variety store).
Photo from F.W. Woolworth Company Annual Report 1959
The single-screen Cinema At Big Town was added, as a freestanding structure, to BIG TOWN MALL. The motion picture venue opened for business in February 1964.
A mid-1980s view of the northwest corner of BIG TOWN MALL. Its north anchor store appears in the background. An updated J.C. Penney is seen on the right.
BIG TOWN MALL
In later years, one of the features of BIG TOWN MALL was Lollipop Park, an enclosed children's amusement area. It included rides such as a mini-train, mini ferris wheel, Sky Fighter, roadway, Brownie tractors and helicopters. There was also a Magic Mountain Indian Village.
The malling of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex intensified after the completion of NORTHPARK CENTER {8 miles northwest, in Dallas}, in 1965. In 1971, TOWN EAST MALL {4 miles east, in Mesquite} opened for business. In order to compete with all of the malls in its trade area, BIG TOWN underwent a renovation in 1975. Wards was expanded (to 164,200 square feet) with additions on the store's east and west sides. A face lift refurbishment was done in 1988.
Unfortunately, BIG TOWN was soon in decline. The Sanger Brothers store, now operating under the Sanger-Harris nameplate, was merged into the Houston-based Foley's chain in 1987. The store closed for good in 1989. Woolworth went dark in 1993, with Montgomery Ward shutting down in March 2001.
By the turn of the 20th century, BIG TOWN was a dilapidated, virtually vacant hulk. Only a few stores with exterior entrances were still in business. Demolition plans were finalized in early 2006. By September of the year, BIG TOWN, and most of its outparcels, were a pile of rubble.
A redevelopment plan, envisaged by Dallas' Kent Jones, proposed building a sports and entertainment complex on the site. This would have included baseball fields, soccer fields, an amphitheater and indoor training facility, with additional space for lodging, restaurants and retail. Unfortunately, The Great Recession caused this redevelopment project to be abandoned.
The vacant mall site was sold to an operative of the Dallas-based SLJ Company in August 2012. In April 2016, it was announced that Dallas' 42 Real Estate development company was building a (334,000 square foot) shipping hub for the FedEx Corporation. This facility was dedicated in August 2017.
Sources:
US 80 East and Big Town Boulevard
Mesquite, Texas
Ground was broken for the first fully-enclosed shopping mall in the Southwest in August 1957. The complex-to-be was built on an 80-acre tract, located 7 miles east of center city Dallas, in suburban Mesquite.
BIG TOWN MALL was developed by Denver's Gerri Von Frellick ["Fray-lik"] and designed by the Tatum & Quade firm of Dallas. A grand opening was held on February 26, 1959. At this time, the shopping venue spanned approximately 600,000 leasable square feet and housed forty-nine tenant spaces.
A 3-level (104,000 square foot), Dallas-based Sanger Brothers anchored the north end of the complex, with a 2-level (124,500 square foot) Montgomery Ward on its south end. There was also a 1-level (38,000 square foot) J.C. Penney on the northwest corner. The shopping concourse facing the Sanger's store was known as Broadway, with the north-south corridor referred to as Main Street.
Charter tenants included Western Auto, Bond Clothes, Rexall Drug, an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10, Woolworth's Cafeteria, Wrigley's supermarket and Town Square (a 600-seat public auditorium). The General Cinema Corporation Cinema At Big Town showed a first feature on February 27, 1964. This venue, and the Big Town BowLanes, were added as southern outparcels of the mall proper. A (101,000 square foot) Woolco discount mart was built east of the mall and opened for business in the spring of 1967.
Mesquite, Texas
Ground was broken for the first fully-enclosed shopping mall in the Southwest in August 1957. The complex-to-be was built on an 80-acre tract, located 7 miles east of center city Dallas, in suburban Mesquite.
BIG TOWN MALL was developed by Denver's Gerri Von Frellick ["Fray-lik"] and designed by the Tatum & Quade firm of Dallas. A grand opening was held on February 26, 1959. At this time, the shopping venue spanned approximately 600,000 leasable square feet and housed forty-nine tenant spaces.
A 3-level (104,000 square foot), Dallas-based Sanger Brothers anchored the north end of the complex, with a 2-level (124,500 square foot) Montgomery Ward on its south end. There was also a 1-level (38,000 square foot) J.C. Penney on the northwest corner. The shopping concourse facing the Sanger's store was known as Broadway, with the north-south corridor referred to as Main Street.
Charter tenants included Western Auto, Bond Clothes, Rexall Drug, an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10, Woolworth's Cafeteria, Wrigley's supermarket and Town Square (a 600-seat public auditorium). The General Cinema Corporation Cinema At Big Town showed a first feature on February 27, 1964. This venue, and the Big Town BowLanes, were added as southern outparcels of the mall proper. A (101,000 square foot) Woolco discount mart was built east of the mall and opened for business in the spring of 1967.
In later years, one of the features of BIG TOWN MALL was Lollipop Park, an enclosed children's amusement area. It included rides such as a mini-train, mini ferris wheel, Sky Fighter, roadway, Brownie tractors and helicopters. There was also a Magic Mountain Indian Village.
The malling of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex intensified after the completion of NORTHPARK CENTER {8 miles northwest, in Dallas}, in 1965. In 1971, TOWN EAST MALL {4 miles east, in Mesquite} opened for business. In order to compete with all of the malls in its trade area, BIG TOWN underwent a renovation in 1975. Wards was expanded (to 164,200 square feet) with additions on the store's east and west sides. A face lift refurbishment was done in 1988.
Unfortunately, BIG TOWN was soon in decline. The Sanger Brothers store, now operating under the Sanger-Harris nameplate, was merged into the Houston-based Foley's chain in 1987. The store closed for good in 1989. Woolworth went dark in 1993, with Montgomery Ward shutting down in March 2001.
By the turn of the 20th century, BIG TOWN was a dilapidated, virtually vacant hulk. Only a few stores with exterior entrances were still in business. Demolition plans were finalized in early 2006. By September of the year, BIG TOWN, and most of its outparcels, were a pile of rubble.
A redevelopment plan, envisaged by Dallas' Kent Jones, proposed building a sports and entertainment complex on the site. This would have included baseball fields, soccer fields, an amphitheater and indoor training facility, with additional space for lodging, restaurants and retail. Unfortunately, The Great Recession caused this redevelopment project to be abandoned.
The vacant mall site was sold to an operative of the Dallas-based SLJ Company in August 2012. In April 2016, it was announced that Dallas' 42 Real Estate development company was building a (334,000 square foot) shipping hub for the FedEx Corporation. This facility was dedicated in August 2017.
Sources:
The Dallas Morning News
"Dual Anchor Shopping Centers 1952-1965" / Richard Longstreth
Dallas History Message Board / "Big Town Shopping Center" / September 28, 2003 / Don Davis
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.city-data.com / Dallas Forum / "Mesquite's Big Town Mall"/ Mike Cochran
http://www.bizjournals.com
"Sanger Brothers" article on Wikipedia
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