When was the whitehall mall built

Kristin Reply: July 16th, at pm. Kristin, Thanks alot, I have been trying to find the name of the pizza place for at least 5 years. Glen Bruder Reply: January 21st, at pm. I have been trying to find anyone else that remembered it. My friends all thought I was crazy when I told them I remembered going there. Scott May 4th, at pm. What a weird mall now.

Just a small enclosed portion. I wonder how they expect something that small to succeed. Chris Whittaker May 4th, at pm. Eric May 4th, at pm.

Thanks for the updates on some of the old posts! Matt from WI May 5th, at am. I think this calls for another Wisconsin mall write up soon. I wished I got pics when I went to Northland for the first time in , but I was young and dumb back then. I did get pics from and again in Allan May 5th, at am. I find it quite weird that they tore down the hallway toward Sears, but I guess the owners of Whitehall were having trouble keeping occupancy rates high enough for their standards or something….

It certainly must not encourage many Sears shoppers to shop the rest of the stores in the remaining enclosed portion of this mall….. And as for what Matt was posting, was Northland Mall a mall that used to co-exist with the more successful sorry if I get the name wrong. Fox River Mall, or whatever the name of the really successful mall that dominates the Appleton area?

Or was it one that opened before Fox River did? ET Reply: July 6th, at am. Just down from it, not attached but in the same lot, is a Festival Foods.

The mall is located at OO Northland Ave. Bobby May 5th, at pm. Matt from WI May 5th, at pm. Keep out an eye on the blog. It would be rather detailed to explain in a response to this posting…. Chris Whittaker May 5th, at pm. Not too much, since by the time I got here, it had become state offices with a couple of businesses left over that services the state workers, kind of like the Empire State Plaza without the location or towers.

You can find a description of this mall on Storetrax. Apparently Weis took part of hte old theater too. Allan May 5th, at pm.

Steven Swain May 6th, at am. Sure they were a little dated, but you can tell it was a nice store. Matt May 7th, at pm. The Quakertown store closed earlier this year, so the space is empty once again.

I prime mall hangout age from to I remember it all like it was yesterday. The Lehigh Valley Mall was much bigger and better but we had some fun times in the Whitehall mall. The ruined the LV Mall with that stupid renovation the took away the spiral staircase. Saw many movies at the Plaza movie theater like E.

That whole area has changed so much it makes me sad. This mall is totally destroyed now. The new Millenium has not been kind to malls. Both malls had a Space Port arcade. They ruled back then. I could go on forever. Where can I find more vintage photos of these malls?

I too have fond memories of the Whitehall mall. It was where my girlfriends would go to hang out,…. I would love to check out old pics too…. The Orange Julius in the Whitehall Mall was king as well! Two Guys department store was one of my favorites too. Charlie November 7th, at pm.

I can even remember the times before Space Port. They had various mechancial arcade games placed throughout the mall. This was the mid to early 70s. Joe December 21st, at pm.

Santa arriving by helicopter. Colored ping pong balls dropped from the heilcopter to be traded for Mall gifts. Spencer Gifts. Great place to check out the latest rock posters that glowed under a black light. Ah yes, the record dept. Ben January 13th, at pm. One thing that I always noticed about the Whitehall Mall is the small second floor located near the entrance with what appears to be a bank of offices.

The Mall's origins date back to October with the opening of Two Guys From Harrison, a precursor to today's big-box store. It was open seven days a week, from 10am to 10pm and was a major force in the eventual elimination of the "Blue Laws" prohibition of retail shopping on Sundays in Pennsylvania. For Allentown residents, which had long had to pay for parking and limited shopping hours in Allentown, Two Guys was revolutionary and the store caused long traffic jams on weekends on MacArthur Road.

Other merchants saw this and MacArthur Road began to open new stores and begin to be a growth pole for business. In late , Sears Roebuck and Company, located at North Seventh and Allen Streets in Allentown, had begun to outgrow the store it had opened in Unable to expand due to its urban location, Sears began to look for a place in the suburbs to build a new, larger store.

Working with a developer in Philadelphia, who had built several shopping Malls in the Delaware Valley suburbs, it made plans for it's new store to be located at the intersection of MacArthur Road and Grape Street, near Mickley Road, on a large tract of then undeveloped land.

By late , Donald Vollmer, chairman of Zollinger-Harned Department Store on Hamilton Street, saw the potential of a suburban store and decided to expand into the new Whitehall Shopping Mall, which was announced in November Woolworth, another longtime Hamilton Street store, which had already opened satellite stores at Crest Plaza and the Lehigh Shopping Center, became the third major company to agree to expand into the new proposed mall.

Ground was broken for Whitehall Mall's construction in February A foreshadowing of things to come also began in when the Lehigh Valley Mall was first announced to be developed on a site south of Grape Street that was once owned by Max Hess, Jr.

Hess had bought the site in the late s to develop a shopping center there but plans never worked out and it was sold to developers from the Philadelphia area. Whitehall Mall under construction. Photo credit: macarthurroad Photo from macarthurroad Shoppers observe a cage of exotic birds in the Whitehall Mall. Image from macarthurroad Aerial view of the Whitehall Mall in its original form, with Sears in the foreground. Postcard from Percy Brown's Cafeteria.

Exceptional quality at reasonable prices. The Morning Call file photo shows Sears department store upon opening. Eventually it would get upgraded to a twin-screen. Plastic coverings prevented movie-goers from entering construction zones as the rest of the mall was completed.

Approximate floor plan of the Whitehall Mall in File photo from The Morning Call. The Lehigh Valley Mall opened on October 6th, It was nearly double the size of the Whitehall Mall and offered more than twice as many shops under its roof.

The main entrance of the Whitehall Mall had a big "Leh's" sign on it. Photo credit Michael Lisicky. The Leh's court at the Whitehall Mall had big, beautiful planters and fountains. A look inside the Leh's department store.

Aerial view of the two malls - Whitehall on top, Lehigh Valley on the bottom. Google Earth. Approximate floor plan of the Whitehall Mall following the expansion which added Clover and some small shops. Whitehall Mall always here for you. Morning Call file photo.

Woolworth lasted until the bitter end at the Whitehall Mall, but in July , all remaining Woolworth stores were announced to close. Walking beneath a canopy of trees and skylights, two elderly shoppers reminisce about the Whitehall Mall in January The two had been coming to the mall since and were saddened by the impending demolition. This rare photo from within the now-demolished main stretch of the mall shows several empty storefronts.

Work is done for the de-malling of the Whitehall Mall on April 14th, The main mall entrance is in the background, next to the Weis Markets sign. A worker cuts through steel beams of the Whitehall Mall structure on Thursday, June 11th, Workers deconstruct the former main entrance to the Whitehall Mall on October 20th, Approximate floor plan of the Whitehall Mall post-demolition. New structures were built as well, adding space for Michael's craft store and Borders bookstore, among others.

The former Leh's building was split up, with a furniture store taking over part of it while the Weis supermarket expanded into the rest.

Sears' hulking , square foot, two-story department store at the Whitehall Mall in I've always found the architecture of this Sears to be pretty pleasing. What you see here is basically the sum total of the Whitehall Mall - what little remains of it. One final, largely neglected corridor full of vintage charm and just a handful of shops.

The original Whitehall Mall lacked real skylights, instead opting for artificial ones shaped like flowers. One of the later renovations added these real skylights, complete with retro light bulb borders that are still occasionally turned on.

Strange panels on the walls unconvincingly assert that the Whitehall Mall is "where to meet for every occasion, where to shop for every occasion". The new wing included a Clover department store and room for more stores. The mall would continue to operate as a standard enclosed mall until , when most of the enclosed portion of the mall would be demolished and big boxed. Today, the Whitehall Mall is a shell of its former self. Only one corridor of the mall still exists, and it is the addition.