In browsing through the Middletown Public Library's online historical collection, I came across several construction pictures from the early 1970s of Middletown's City Centre Mart (renamed Mall at some point).  I thought I would share them here.  Most are in Black and White.

 

Plans to make downtown Middletown more suburban actually began in the late 1950s with an experiment that shut off Central Ave to vehicle traffic and created the pedestrian Central Plaza.  I'm not quite sure how long this lasted, but at some point in the 1960s, a local artist was asked to create some renderings of new storefronts for buildings along Central Ave.  One of those renderings appears below:

 

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By the late 1960s, a new direction was taken (probably because the Middletown received several millions in federal dollars) to enclosed the intersection of Central and Broad Streets and extend that enclosure 500 feet in each direction to created an indoor, climate controlled mall.  The old intersection would serve as the focal point with a large fountain.  Next is a rendering of the mall's inside that must have been developed during the planning stages:

 

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The remaining pictures are mostly of the canopy's construction.  Part of the project involved removing old, deteriotated buildings.  You get a chance to see how the area looked before the mall and before some of the buildings were torn down.

 

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Both the Filson's and Weber's buildings were casualties of the mall's construction:

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And finally, a completed entrance.  This was known as the West Entrance at Main Street and what was Central.  Each entrance had some sort of public artwork or fountain.

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The mall's removal began in the early 2000s and the project was completed in Winter 2003.  I have posted some pics in the forum on how the area looks today.  I have some pics of the mall prior and during its removing, but they aren't electronic. 

Wacky man!  I am sure they thought it was a great idea at the time though.

Very interesting.

Puke.

ouch

What makes something a "Mart", anyway?

Ugh (old aerial)

 

The enclosure ran down the length of Central from Main to Canal? Wow.

i'm with the cinci kid on this.

 

i give it a "c." it's an average of an "a" for creativity and and "f" for tearing down interesting old structures.

 

a very interesting attempt at reviving main street usa during the rise of the malls era. 

 

i would love to see some shots of what it looks like today. new buildings there? empty lots? a park?

 

Man, that's effed up.  Definitely not a good time for planning (or architectural design) back then.

Man...  I had no idea that Main Street was enclosed.  Just wow...

Man...  I had no idea that Main Street was enclosed.  Just wow...

 

Main Street itself was never enclosed.  Central Ave was enclosed (became the floor of the mall) for 2 blocks, with the West end of the 'mall' opening onto Main Street. 

Thanks for the photos.  I am old enough to remember the place before Central Ave was enclosed to make the mall.  I bought a lot of model railroad stuff in Murphy's 5&10 store.  My cub scout uniform came from JC Penneys (upstairs, 2nd floor).  My Mom used to shop in the Mabelling & Carew (sp?) department store, where there was an escalator.  My Dad bought his suits at Worthmores, and my shoes came from a Buster Brosn (?) showstore.  All of these were enclosed into the mall, and all went out of business pretty quickly afterwards, or moved, if I recall correctly.

 

I remember the streets being closed for 'sidewalk sales' for several days at a time. This must have been in the 1960s and predated the mall.

 

I remember seeing a solar eclips as a child by standing on Central Ave and watching the reflection of the sun in the reflection of the new CG&E building.

 

The former Murphy 5&10 store is still there, as art gallaries now - Beau Verre being one of them.  I was in it late last year, and the special mirror in the basement is still there - 40 years later!  They said everyone my age who comes into the place asks about that mirror setup and makes a bee-lilne for it.  I was no exception. 

Man...  I had no idea that Main Street was enclosed.  Just wow...

Yes, it was.   Well not actually "Main Street' per se.  But Central Avenue and Broad Street.  When I first read your "Middletown Ghost Town" thread a couple of years ago, I assumed you knew that the area was once a covered mall.  Hence, you can begin to understand why the area suffered so much.  Middletown cut the life out of their downtown by blocking off the main street through town by building the mall.

 

That said, it was a nice surprise to see this thread receive some renewed interest.  The mall had always interested me.   You see, it was finished one year before I was born, so I never knew downtown without the mall.  I had seen pictures and heard stories of what it was like, always envious of the generations before me who got to experience it.

 

Many assume the mall was built as a reaction to the Towne Mall in Franklin Township, just east of Middletown but now within the city limits.  Not true.  The Towne Mall wasn't completed until until 1977--three years AFTER the downtown mall was finished.   The downtown mall was more of a response to your typical strip centers which had began popping up around town and aging buildings in the core area.  Don't get me wrong, the Towne Mall complicated things for the downtown shopping center.  From what I've read, the mall concept was heavily supported and lobbied for by the merchants and property owners.  My gut tells me they never imagined the impact on their sales of a construction project of this magnitude.

 

The first comprehensive plan for Downtown Middletown was completed in the late 1960s.  Well before the Towne Mall.  It was with this plan that the downtown mall concept began take roots.  I have a copy of that plan.  It has some great conceptual renderings.  Unfortunately, it it is rather large and difficult to scan.  I did find a rendering of from that plan.  This rendering shows the mall entrance facing Verity Parkway at what would have been the intersection of Canal Street and Central Avenue.  As you can see, the mall is flanked by two parking structures both with high-rise office buildings atop....Middletown's "Twin Towers" have you.  One was to be residential.  The other was office/commerical.  The plan also called for an expansion of the Central Store to connect to the mall and an expansion of Pennys by tearing down the two historical structures next to it.  Thankfully, that did not happen :)  The design of the entrance ways was much different then as well.

 

 

By the early 1970s, it appears the city had received federal funds to help with the project.  Of course, getting federal funding is not easy and often vastly delays projects.  Had the city been able to fund the mall project on its own, it may have been more successful.

 

The next shot comes from another downtown plan from the early 1970s.  As you can see, the plan still is for two parking garages, but one of the office towers is missing.  From a design standpoint, this closely matches what was completed.  The grey buildings were existing buildings to be retained.  White buildings were new construction.  Notice in this model, many of the historic buildings along Main Street, including the US Hotel and the Sorg Opera House a would have been torn down.  Notice the "U" shape complex on Main Street.  Not sure what the plans were for this.  Attached to both parking structures are new "department/variety" stores that were to be constructed.  Only the building in the upper right corner was constructed as a department store--Swallens.   The upper left became a new YMCA.  The bottom right and left became parking lots and the Sorg Opera House was retained.  The Centre Centre "brand" had not been developed yet.

 

 

Next is a floor plan from the same early 1970s plan:

 

PreConstruction and Construction Photos (hopefully no dups from above :) )  The mall construction started in 1972 and was completed in 1974.

 

Fay Drugs was a victim of the mall.  The other two buildings were replaced with a more modern structure prior to the mall's construction.

 

 

In this photo Fay Drugs is now Walker Shoes and all the buildings to the right of it, with the exception of the tower, were victim of the mall:

 

 

The big open space behind Penny's is where Swallens built.  Looks like Urban Planning and Design wasn't the only bad thing in the 1970s LOL

 

 

The mall canopy goes up at Pennys

 

 

Work on N. Broad preparing for the mall roof

 

 

The next photos come from a marketing piece on the "City Centre":

 

A map of the area:

 

Some interior shots:

 

Up close of a mall storefront:

 

Aerial of the mall area.  Nice view of the mall area and government/civic plaza.  Notice the mall entrance at the bottom seems unfinished.  That's because the city was waiting for more funding to completed the second garage and Elder-Beerman was supposed to anchor the south entrance and garage.  I'll talk more about Elder-Beerman later :)  In this image, Swallens is also completed.

 

 

The next shots come from another "color" marketing piece.  The first is the cover of the brochure:

 

 

More interior pictures and the fountain that was at the center of the mall....or the old intersection of Broad and Central:

 

 

 

Sketch of the north entrance looking from City Centre Plaza.  Notice the old "Y" building now gone.  Swallens is to the left.  Despite the Swallens building, this was one of my favorite entrances:

 

 

Next an aerial view circa 1985

 

 

So what happened?  In the beginning, the mart/mall was a modest success.  J.C. Penny contined to operate out of the mall until 1982.  Murphy Mart (formerly C.G Murphy and Co) was open until about 1980.  The locally owned Central Store closed.  Probably the biggest disaster for the mall was Elder-Beerman, who had just aquired Mabely and Carew out of Cincinnati.  They had planned a new store in the mall.   There were issues that were unresolved with a local property owner and the city over land and parking.  Eventually E-B opted to join McAlpins and Sears at the Towne Mall.

 

Middletown wasn't the first to do the covered mall thing downtown.  Hamilton also pondered a similar move.  The problem was that it was a mall in a traditional mall sense.  For example, with a mall, there usually was a single property owner (with the exception of the department stores).  This mall owner charged standard rental rates, set standard hours and could b selective with whom they signed leases.  With the City Centre Mall in Middletown, you had more than 14 property owners....all setting their own rental rates (two similar storefronts could vary vastly in their rent).  Plus there was no control over who was rent to or what their hours were.  In the end, it was a failure and was costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain each year.

 

In the early 1990s, the city began to study removing the roof.  It was nearly 10 years before the decision to do so was made.  The roof came off and Central and Broad were reopened to traffic in 2003.

 

I have some pictures of the mall deconstruction.  They aren't digital, but I can scan them in the future.

 

wow thx for the history and interior photos pres.

 

it's sealed up and looks just like a typical 70's mall inside.

 

i can also see what i first thought was the mall is actually a street-long parking garage above it. is that still there?

 

also, i didnt mean to imply the mall was a reaction to any particular local mall (sounds like towne mall was built later on). i meant it was obviously a reaction to the combat the new trend of edge malls in general that were popping up all over elsewhere -- sort of a creative/preventative action. if we can put ourselves in their place it was not so unwise an endeavor at the time. the proof of "success" is in the pics and renderings....it sure looked just like any other mall of its day!

 

 

wow thx for the history and interior photos pres.

 

it's sealed up and looks just like a typical 70's mall inside.

 

i can also see what i first thought was the mall is actually a street-long parking garage above it. is that still there?

 

You are welcome.  The parking structure is still there, but could come down in the near future with the Swallen's building. 

 

The mall wing with parking structure was very dark and gloomy.  The rest of the mall during the day was full of sunlight, if the sun was out.  But the concrete floor gave it an unfinished looked and feel.

 

Many assume the mall was a response to suburban malls.  In some ways it was.  Middletown had actually contemplated building a new downtown on the east side of town.  For those who know Middletown, its the area around K-Mart and the Masonic Temple.  The Masonic was on of the first civic buildings to jump on the idea, but it never took off.  I have a rendering and article of that plan as well.

 

Man, that's effed up.  Definitely not a good time for planning (or architectural design) back then.

It is certainly no Nickel's Arcade ;)

I wonder if City Centre could have been more successful if the plan was fully built-out. DT Middletown does not have all that much going for it right now -- since most of the historic building stock has been severely altered or demolished. Would high rise condos and apartments have been beneficial today?

Middletown 2006 Forum Meet: Click the photo to link to the full set.

 

There were several hundred cities that made their main streets into pedestrian malls.

 

I wonder how many took the Middletown approach to fully-enclose and climate control the street? 

 

Makato, MN and Redding, CA are the only others I can think of off hand.

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There were several hundred cities that made their main streets into pedestrian malls.

 

I wonder how many took the Middletown approach to fully-enclose and climate control the street? 

 

Makato, MN and Redding, CA are the only others I can think of off hand.

Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

49 minutes ago, ink said:

There were several hundred cities that made their main streets into pedestrian malls.

 

I wonder how many took the Middletown approach to fully-enclose and climate control the street? 

 

Makato, MN and Redding, CA are the only others I can think of off hand.

 

Muskegon, MI as well.

 

^Ah ha! Now I understand why Muskegon's downtown is so lackluster. Almost nothing is left of the old main drag (Western Avenue). 

On 7/6/2021 at 10:10 AM, Barneyboy said:

Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

My first thought as well.

I consider Fremont Street something different as it is only a glass roof/awning. The street is not an interior, climate controlled space and the building facades are still intact and mostly visible.

I believe Middletown’s was modeled after Rock Hill South Carolina. It has since been removed as well

^Interesting, I did not realize Rock Hill did the mall thing. It appears to have been in place from the mid-1970s to 1994, coming down almost a decade before Middletown:

 

 

^ Loving that Excitable Boy album cover in the second pic!