TOWN & COUNTRY DRIVE-IN SHOPPING CENTER
East Broad Street and Robinwood Avenue
Whitehall, Ohio
The first post-war shopping plaza in the Buckeye State was the brainchild of Columbus' Don M. Casto, Senior. The open-air strip complex was built on a 12-acre plot, situated 5.3 miles northeast of the Ohio State House, in the newly-incorporated suburb of Whitehall.
At the time, the area was considered remote and off the beaten path...which resulted in the the project being derided as "Casto's Folly." Details of the prospective shopping center were divulged to the local media on July 5, 1947. A groundbreaking was held November 11, 1948.
An initial four-section, twenty-store complex was designed by C. Melvin Frank. Its first operational store, a Moore's of Ohio Hardware, opened on March 1, 1949. Ten stores debuted as part of an official grand opening held on March 6th. These included Gray Drug, Carroll's Furniture and 1-level (10,000 square foot) Kroger supermarket. Attending the grand opening were Howard O. Barr (Whitehall Mayor) and James A. Rhodes (R) (Columbus Mayor and eventual Ohio Governor).
A Central Section, completed in 1950, featured an S.S. Kresge 5 & 10, Albers supermarket and 2-level (22,600 square foot) J.C. Penney. Stores in an East Section were dedicated between October 1951 and January 1952. These included a 1-level (20,000 square foot) Columbus-based Union Company and 1-level (22,200 square foot) Big Bear supermarket.
By the mid-1950s, the complex, now known as TOWN & COUNTRY CENTER, encompassed ten retail buildings and over 300,000 leasable square feet. The complex covered 25.6 acres and went by the alternate name of MIRACLE MILE.
TOWN & COUNTRY was now co-anchored by a branch of The Boston Store (a Columbus-based chain operated as a division of Dearborn, Michigan-based Federal). Inline stores included Lil' Kiddy Shop, Stately's Apparel, Sarah's Yarn Shop, Edward's Rexall, Sam's Shoe Service, Eavy's Restaurant, and Harry's Beauty Salon. It was a requirement that all businesses be open six days a week until 9 pm. At the time, this was a radical concept, as downtown stores tended to close at 5 pm.
The General Cinema Corporation Town & Country Cinema opened, as a freestanding structure, on September 21, 1966. It was located across the street from the shopping strip and was shuttered September 25, 1986. The venue was converted into a cinema draft house in 1991.
Meanwhile, a renovation had been done to the shopping center in 1975, with new facades and canopies installed. The Union Company was doubled in size with the addition of a mezzanine level in 1967. It was rebranded as a Halle's ["Hal-eez"] boutique store in May 1980. A Lazarus Capri Shop had taken over the Boston Store building in 1973. It moved into the Halle's spot when that space was vacated in 1982. This store was shuttered on January 31, 1992.
A second major shopping center renovation had commenced in 1986. The western store block was demolished and replaced by a new structure. This housed a 1-level (53,000 square foot) Big Bear supermarket, which opened on October 31, 1987.
As the 50th anniversary of TOWN & COUNTRY CENTER approached in 1999, the Casto Company decided that a third renovation of the property was in order. A "Main Street USA" motif was used, with stores given new brick facades and awnings. The parking lot was also reconfigured.
The revitalized retail hub now encompassed approximately 489,600 leasable square feet and provided free parking for 2,083 autos. The Big Bear supermarket closed for good in January 2004. The vacant building was acquired by Kroger in March 2017. They demolished the structure, with plans to replace it with a (105,000 square foot) Kroger Marketplace. This plan was abandoned in November 2020, with no store -or stores- being built.
Sources:
The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus News Index
https://www.the-review.com / The Alliance Review / Steve McLoughlin
http://www.doncasto.com / Casto Lifestyle Properties
Franklin County, Ohio Tax assessor website
The Columbus Metropolitan Library
www.bigbearstores.com
www.cinematreasures.org
www.columbusmemory.org
http://www.columbusunderground.com
https://www.bobevans.com
https://www.thisweeknews.com
FAIR USE OF TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPING CENTER PHOTOS:
The photographs from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Whitehall Historical Society and Grandview Heights Public illustrate key moments in the shopping center's history that are described in the article. The images are not replaceable with free-use or public-domain images. The use of the images does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the images in any way. The images are being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and their use is not believed to detract from the original images in any way.
