In the mid-1950s, Huntsville, Alabama was a sleepy southern town of 16,000 inhabitants. Then came the Space Race, with Huntsville chosen as the site for America's missile research, as well as the development of much of the nation's space program. By the early 1960s, the city was booming.

To facilitate its traffic flow, Memorial Parkway was dedicated in December 1955. The original 4-lane thoroughfare had just one grade-separated overpass. More were added between 1969 and 2012. 

By the 1980s, Huntsville had the dubious distinction of being the largest city in "The Lower 48" with no Interstate Highway connection. A 22-mile spur route -Interstate 565- was dedicated between 1989 and 1991. It linked the Rocket City with Interstate 65 to the west.

In the 1960s and '70s, everything in (pre-Interstate 565) Huntsville was situated along its Memorial Parkway, commonly referred to as "The Parkway". The thoroughfare had four shopping malls within a 3-mile stretch by 1976. 

The first of five shopping malls built in the Rocket City, HEART OF HUNTSVILLE, was completed in 1961. This was just a year after the state's first interior mall, EASTWOOD, had opened for business in Birmingham.

Our LOST MALLS OF HUNTSVILLE section will cover four past-their-prime properties, which opened for business between 1961 and 1976. Three of these have been completely demolished, while one has been repurposed as a medical facility. These shopping centers are listed henceforth, using their original names.

*HEART OF HUNTSVILLE MALL [1961-2007]

*DUNNAVANT'S MALL [1963 to present]

*THE MALL [1966-2001]

*PARKWAY CITY MALL [1976-1999]

The four LOST MALLS flanking Memorial Parkway should probably not be classed as "freeway-friendly" during their early years, as The Parkway was upgraded to a limited-access highway on a piecemeal basis.

Hence, MADISON SQUARE, in the western environs of the metro area, should probably be remembered as the city's first freeway-friendly mall. Dedicated in August 1984, it was built adjacent to an interchange on the Research Park Boulevard expressway.

This shopping facility opened with an incredible amount of ballyhoo (I was present at its grand opening). MADISON SQUARE was on the skids by the 2010s and was given a wrecking ball renovation in February 2017. Its successor, MIDCITY HUNTSVILLE, is a mixed-use project, which (naturally) is open-air in format. 

With these revelations, MADISON SQUARE becomes the Rocket City's fifth LOST MALL. However, our focus -or Prime Directive- on the MHoF site is to cover malls which opened for business between the years 1946 and 1979. The dedication of MADISON SQUARE, in 1984, places it outside of our timeline focus. It will not be covered in this article.