COME ON IN AND BROWSE A BIT...

Welcome to the SHOPPING MALL MUSEUM website...a companion to the MALL HALL OF FAME, also on BLOGGER. As you may already be aware, The MALL HALL OF FAME is very time-specific in focus, covering "Only In America" malls built, within the Fifty States, between 1946 and 1979.
The MALL MUSEUM, on the other hand, has a MUCH WIDER focus. Retail complexes from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries are exhibited...as are those from Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia.
As you may -or may not- notice, local vernacular and spellings are used where possible. However, EVERYTHING here will be indicated in United States-style standard square footage and / or mileage figures.

We don't do metric...hee hee.

Midwest City, Oklahoma's Atkinson Plaza

The Sooner State's planned community on the prairie came into being in 1942. Its trendsetting design generated a great deal of national publicity and inspired large-scale, post-war developments such as Levittown, New York, Levittown, Pennsylvania, Park Forest, Illinois and Lakewood, California. In 1951, Midwest City was designated America's Model City...as the sign attests.
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitechipmunk/1434051638/in/set-72157602144303459 / White Chipmunk's Photostream / Atkinson Heritage Center

A circa-1943 aerial of Midwest City, with its fledgeling city center shopping hub in the foreground. The early incarnation of the planned city, now referred to as the Original Mile, encompassed a square mile, or 640 acres. Today, the sprawling prairie town takes in 24.6 square miles, or 15,744 acres.
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitechipmunk/1434051638/in/set-72157602144303459/  White Chipmunk's Photostream / Atkinson Heritage Center

A 1950s Midwest City street scene. In the early days, before all of its thoroughfares were paved, the town was derisively known as "Mudwest City". 
Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitechipmunk/1434051638/in/set-72157602144303459/  White Chipmunk's Photostream / Atkinson Heritage Center

-Click on any photos in this article for larger views-