Center and South 42nd Streets
Omaha, Nebraska
Under the Mall Hall of Fame "Wisconsin" link is an article about Appleton's VALLEY FAIR CENTER. This small, fully-enclosed shopping facility formally opened in March, 1955. A similarly-sized, interior mall in Omaha, Nebraska was officially dedicated on October 1955. These small shopping complexes predated Greater Minneapolis' SOUTHDALE CENTER by over a year.
SOUTHDALE, as many know, is considered to be America's first fully-enclosed shopping center. However, as we have found, there were two that could be classed as the first and second, although these centers were, by no means, the large-scale, regional-class shopping venue that SOUTHDALE was even in its early years.
THE CENTER was developed by Omaha's John A. Wiebe ["Wee-bee"] and built on a 6.6-acre site, located 1.5 miles southwest of the Omaha Central Business District. Kenneth C. Welch, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, designed the structure. It was small, even by the standard of a mid-1950s shopping center. The entire leasable area measured only 200,000 square feet.
There were three levels of stores facing onto climate-controlled Arcades. These were accessed from a multilevel parking structure that surrounded the retail core. The mall's 4th Level was predominantly leased as offices. A 3-level (98,000 square foot), Des Moines-based Younkers ["yonk-erz"] was one of the first operational tenants. This store welcomed first customers on September 6, 1955.
An mall-wide dedication was held on October 24, 1955. The celebration was attended by Victor Emanuel Anderson (R) (Governor of Nebraska), John Ross Rosenblatt (Mayor of Omaha), William Knox (Mayor of Council Bluffs, Iowa), Morey Sostrin (President of Younker Brothers, Incorporated) and John Wiebe. An invocation was given by Reverend Lawrence Acker. Lyle De Moss served as Master of Ceremonies. The festivities included the burial of a time capsule that would be opened in November 2005.
Among thirty charter THE CENTER tenants were Thom McAn Shoes, Mode O' Day Frock Shop, The Center Bank, National Shirt Shops, an (11,000 square foot) Big Chief center market and (9,100 square foot) Hested's 5 & 10. The Roof Garden Restaurant, in a 5th Level Penthouse, welcomed first diners in October 1955. In February 1956, it re-opened as Al Green's Sky Room Restaurant.
The penthouse was reconfigured in the late 1950s. The existing restaurant was replaced by Ben Kava's Cimarron Room and the Clink cocktail lounge. The Sky Lanes bowling alley, a 24-lane facility, opened for business on September 6, 1959. It included two spectator lounges, a cocktail bar and a Kiddie Korral babysitting service.
Des Moines-based Younkers acquired Omaha's Thomas Kilpatrick Company (a.k.a. Kilpatrick's) chain in March 1961. THE CENTER anchor store began to be promoted as a Kilpatrick-Younkers in May 1961. By the early '70s, this was written out as Younker-Kilpatricks. The store was re-rebranded, as a Younkers, in August 1982.
Meanwhile, on October 17th, 1969, a fire had raged through THE CENTER, resulting in 5 million dollars in damage. The 5th Level penthouse, with its bowling alley, restaurant and cocktail bar, was destroyed. 4th Level offices were also severely impacted. The mall was closed as repairs were made, with interior spaces being redecorated with Olde English decor. Younker-Kilpatricks was back in business by October 1970. A new Cimarron Room debuted in January 1971. Its adjacent Clink cocktail bar was now known as the Devil's Nest. The restaurant and cocktail bar would close for good in 1975.
By this time, the complex was often referred to as the "CENTER MALL." It was beginning to decline. This was due to competition from newer and larger shipping complexes, such as CROSSROADS CENTER (1960) {2.9 miles northwest, in Omaha}, SOUTHROADS CENTER (1966) {4.9 miles southeast, in Belleview}, WESTROADS CENTER (1968) {5.1 miles northwest, in Omaha}, MALL OF THE BLUFFS (1986) {7.8 miles east, in Council Bluffs, Iowa} and OAK VIEW MALL (1991) {8.2 miles southwest, in Omaha}.
THE CENTER Younkers was shuttered in January 1996, signaling that the mall was no longer viable as a retail complex. The few remaining inline stores pulled up stakes, with the mini-mall gradually being repositioned as an office and call center facility. Today, the building encompasses 227,500 leasable square feet and includes 1,100 parking spaces. It is owned by Omaha-based First Management, Incorporated.
Sources:
The Omaha World Herald
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
Malls Of America Blogspot / "The Center" post by Keith Milford / Comments by "Anonymous" and "DanOlson"
Post comment by "Catalina Ven Du Ray"
Douglas County, Nebraska Tax assessor website
www.findinguniverse.com / "Younkers" article
https://firstmgt.com / First Management, Incorporated
