Gulf Freeway and Woodridge Street
Houston, Texas
What was first shopping mall in the Lone Star State? Some may cite Houston's GULFGATE SHOPPING CITY, which was dedicated in September 1956. However, there is another -slightly older- contender. PALMS CENTER, on the southeast side of the Bayou City, opened for business in September 1955...a full year before the official dedication of the GULFGATE mall.
PALMS CENTER encompassed a modest 268,000 leasable square feet and had a dry-goods-only J.C. Penney as its anchor. On the other hand, GULFGATE spanned a whopping 802,800 leasable square feet and contained full-line Joske's and Sakowitz department stores.
The gargantuan GULFGATE complex was built on a 70-acre parcel, located 5 miles southeast of downtown Houston. The site was adjacent to the Gulf Freeway, which was Greater Houston's first expressway. Its first segment opened to traffic in September 1948. Initially open-air, the 20 million dollar GULFGATE was designed by Seattle's John Graham, Junior and Houston's Irving R. Klein. The shopping hub was developed by Boston-based Theodore W. Berenson & Associates.
GULFGATE consisted of a main Mall Level and service basement, which was accessed by three tunnels. There were initially sixty-two stores. A 3-level (208,000 square foot), San Antonio-based Joske's opened as part of the center's September 20, 1956 inauguration. Texan Governor Allan Shivers (D) made an appearance.
Junior anchors were a 3-level (69,400 square foot) J.J. Newberry 5 & 10, 2-level W.T Grant variety store and single-level Weingarten's supermarket. Inline stores included Flagg Brothers Shoes, Chandler's Shoes, Baker's Shoes, Lerner Shops, Gordon's Jewelers and a Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio. Houston-based Sakowitz Brothers' 3-level (92,500 square foot) store opened for business on October 21, 1956.
GULFGATE featured Texas' largest Walgreen Drug and the first shopping center-format Piccadilly Cafeteria. At the southern end of the main shopping concourse was a pedestrian bridge, which eventually connected to the General Cinema Corporation Gulfgate Cinema I & II. This venue was dedicated on April 14, 1965.
By the mid-1960s, ALMEDA MALL {6.2 miles southeast, in Houston} was under construction. To remain competitive with its up-and-coming competitor, GULFGATE was enclosed and climate-controlled and renamed GULFGATE MALL. In 1970, a section of the Interstate 610 / South Loop expressway was completed. It passed beneath the pedestrian bridge and provided additional access to the shopping center.
GULFGATE was now facing increased commercial competition. BAYBROOK MALL {13.5 miles southeast, in Houston} opened in July 1978. PASADENA TOWN SQUARE {5.6 miles east, in Pasadena} welcomed first shoppers in August 1982. By the late 1980s, GULFGATE was in decline. Sakowitz had shuttered their store in November 1985. The store space was never retenanted. Joske's was converted to a Dillard's Clearance Center in July 1987 and closed for good in 1997.
J.J. Newberry morphed into a Baton Rouge-based H.J. Wilson Catalog Showroom which was rebranded by Nashville's Service Merchandise in 1985. The Weingarten's grocery became a California-based Pic-N-Save closeout store, which was converted to a MacFrugals in 1991.
Houston's E.D. ("Ed") Wulfe purchased the past-its-prime property in 1998 as part of a joint venture with the City of Houston. A redevelopment got underway in May 2001, with the entirety of the mall being demolished. Its replacement was GULFGATE CENTER. This 450,000 square foot power plaza housed twenty-three stores relocated from the original mall. The first phase of the 74 million dollar complex was dedicated on May 24, 2002.
Sources:
http://www.texasfreeways.com
https://houstonhistorymagazine.org
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
http://www.cinematour.com
http://www.houstonarchitectureinfo.com / Houston Architectural Info Forum
Houston Business Journal / May 17, 2002 / Nancy Sarnoff
http://blogs.chron.com
"Sakowitz" article on Wikipedia
"Joske's" article on Wikipedia
"Joske's" article on Wikipedia
FAIR USE OF GULFGATE MALL IMAGE:
The photograph from The University of Milwaukee-Milwaukee Library Digital Collection illustrates a key moment in the mall's history that is described in the article. The image is not replaceable with free-use or public-domain images. The use of the image does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the image in any way. The image is being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and its use is not believed to detract from the original image in any way.
