Dixie Square Mall

Dixie Square Mall

Front cover of mall directory
Location	Harvey, Illinois
Address	151st to 154th Street and Dixie Highway, Harvey, Illinois
Opening date	August 31, 1966
Closing date	November 1978
No. of stores and services	64 (in 1968) 20 (in 1978)
No. of anchor tenants	3
Parking	4000 (at 1966 opening)[1]
No. of floors	1

Dixie Square Mall is an abandoned enclosed shopping mall located in Harvey, Illinois, United States, located at the junction of 151st Street and the Dixie Highway. It has been vacant for over 30 years, more than twice as long as it was in business. It is famous for having been used, both inside and out, for the mall chase scene in the movie The Blues Brothers. More recently, it achieved notoriety because of a growing Internet cult following (including local urban exploration groups) dedicated to covering the mall's deteriorating condition. Like other "dead malls", it had been characterized by high vacancy rates and low patronage, which led to its closure. However, while other dead malls were redeveloped or demolished, Dixie Square has stood out due to its extensive neglect, vandalism damage, and storied history.^[2][3]

Since the mall closed, various plans have been made to demolish or redevelop the property, though none of these plans has ever come to fruition. The first plan to demolish the mall was developed in the late 1970s, but the filming of The Blues Brothers prevented this from happening. The mall has been left to decay ever since, due in no small part to a lack of funds (the blighted^[4] town of Harvey owned the property itself for the greater part of the last 25 years). ^[5][2][3] The only parts of the mall that have been fully demolished are the central energy plant, the former Woolworth anchor, and the former Montgomery Ward building.

Mall and mall site history

Open for business: 1965–1978

At the cost of US$25 million, Dixie Square opened in 1966 on the site of a former golf course. Construction had begun in late 1964, and Montgomery Ward was the first of the mall's stores to open, on October 21, 1965. A soft opening took place August 31, 1966, with 36 stores. Construction was completed nearly three months later, and the mall was dedicated on November 9, 1966, with grand opening celebrations from November 10-12, and 50 stores open. Grand opening celebrations featured Homer and Jethro; Art Hodes and Sid Sakowicz; the Art Van Damme Quintet; and Ned Locke of the Bozo's Circus show.^[1]

The mall had 64 shops by 1968,^[6] including the two anchor stores, Woolworth, Walgreens, and a Jewel supermarket, the last of which did not open into the mall.^{[citation needed]} An expansion and a third anchor, Turn Style discount department store, was added in 1970.

However, by the early 1970s, crime was becoming an increasing problem in the mall's town of Harvey, a failing, poverty-stricken suburb 20 miles (32 km) south of Chicago. Several major incidents began occurring near or at the mall itself. In November 1972, a young woman was fatally shot near the mall in a botched robbery attempt. On April 20, 1973, another person was shot in a robbery on the mall property itself. In July 1973, a teenage girl was lured away from the mall by three other teenage girls, and strangled to death.^[7]

From 1973 to 1976, Dixie lost many stores, including the Montgomery Ward anchor, which closed on October 4, 1976. In a last-ditch effort to bring back shoppers and tenants, the mall underwent a renovation in 1976 and shortened its name to "Dixie Mall".^[8] These efforts failed, as by 1978, it was down to its last twenty stores,^[7] with Penney's departing on January 25, 1978. The entire mall closed its doors in November 1978 with the exception of Walgreens and Jewel, which were both accessible from outside of the mall and stayed open into 1979.^{[citation needed]}

On January 25, 1979, a full year after closing, Penney's briefly reopened and held a sale which they called "Dixie's Last Gasp", in which they liquidated outdated merchandise, mannequins, and display cases.^[7]

Temporary school and movie set 1979–1981

In January 1979, after the mall's interior had closed, the city of Harvey gave the property not still in use by stores to the Harvey-Dixmoor School District. The mall space was used as a temporary school while a new one was constructed. Turn Style's floor space was used as a gymnasium. The mall was used for this purpose for two years.^[7]

The mall chase scene from The Blues Brothers.

Shortly after the last store (Jewel) vacated, director John Landis rented the vacant mall for eight weeks in the summer of 1979 to film a scene in the movie The Blues Brothers. Police cars were driven through the mall, destroying parts of it. Some former tenants, including Hickory Farms and Walgreens, refused to let their storefronts appear in the film so these were either "dressed up" as other stores (the Walgreens became a Toys "R" Us, and the Penney's interior became that of Jewel, although the exteriors of the real Jewel and Penney's stores were retained. The Jewel store never had a mall entrance), or not featured at all. In the film, main characters Elwood and Jake Blues drive through store fronts, display cases and walls and destroy much of the mall while being chased by Illinois State Police troopers. Much of the mall interior was left in poor condition after filming wrapped. The fake wall that the cars crashed through in Toys "R" Us at the beginning of the scene remained in the building until the mid 1980s.^[9]

The Harvey-Dixmoor School District attempted to sue Universal Pictures in December 1981 for $87,000, citing damage to mall property created during the movie shoot, which was never repaired. The district eventually vacated the property, and the mall was completely shuttered.^[7]

Shuttered and seeking use: 1981–1985

Following the movie shoot and the departure of the school district, the mall sat completely empty while new uses for the property were sought. In 1984, vandals broke in for the first time, damaging and looting the mall, and leaving a number of entrances wide open in the process. Every accessible pane of glass in the mall was broken. Within a year, any piece of metal worth salvaging had been stolen. Also around this time, the large triangular "Dixie" sign, added in the 1976 renovation and seen in the Blues Brothers film, was removed. The canvas covering the JCPenney court area was removed as well, allowing rain and snow to enter into the building. Over time, this, coupled with lack of maintenance, took its toll on the building.

In approximately 1985, the Wards Auto Service garage in the southwest corner of the mall property was razed, in preparation for construction of a new police station for Harvey. Work was temporary halted on July 9, 1987 (at about 35% completion)^[10] while concerns about the building's foundation were addressed; work on the police station resumed a week later.^[11]

Left to stand and deteriorate: 1985–present

"Block B" storefronts inside Dixie Square as they appeared in 2009, showing a severe state of decay.

Former Penney's and Jewel buildings in 2009

Despite the new Harvey Police station occupying land immediately adjacent, the shuttered mall gained a reputation as a notorious crime magnet during the early 1990s, with at least one murder and rape taking place there, as well as gang and drug activity.

Also in the early 1990s, a juvenile court was built on the far west end of the parking lot. Despite numerous attempts to board up and secure the mall, it has been forced open repeatedly. Vandalism is the primary cause, but many homeless people have also turned the former mall site into makeshift living quarters. There has been much debate on what to do with the site.^{[citation needed]}

In the mid 2000s, a massive fire broke out inside the Woolworth store and nearly destroyed the building. The fire caused the roof to cave in, and due to that and other cave-ins, entire saplings are now growing inside the building. Another fire broke out in the City Life lounge, causing minor damage to the abandoned bar. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, several other small fires broke out at the mall.^{[citation needed]}

By the end of the 1990s, full-fledged trees had grown throughout the parking lot, and by the late 2000s, the mall was beginning to collapse.

In January 2005, an agreement was made with American Kitchen Delights to turn the former Montgomery Ward building into a showroom for American Kitchen's products, with the YMCA then using another portion of the property to build senior citizen housing. Just days after the agreement was made, work on the Montgomery Ward store began. The store was gutted.^[12]

On April 14, 2005, a plan was set in motion to demolish the remnants of Dixie Square (except for the Montgomery Ward building which was ostensibly being renovated) and bring top "big-box" retailers to the former mall site, including Costco, Kohl's, and Old Navy. This plan forecast bringing more than 1,000 jobs to Harvey, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in Cook County.^[13]

Soon it was found that the mall contained asbestos. The removed debris was hapazardly covered in plastic and the Montgomery Ward renovation and mall demolition were halted in late June 2005. It was also discovered that the demolition and renovation company had acted without a permit.^[12][14] On July 3, 2005, the site renovation project was put on hold until the asbestos issue could be dealt with.^[14]

On Christmas Eve 2005, during demolition of Dixie Square Mall's central energy plant (which was being done late at night and illegally, as the asbestos problem had not been resolved), a large portion of the Montgomery Ward building was accidentally demolished as well, ending any chance of its renovation. The mayor of Harvey actually witnessed this personally and stopped the crew from doing any more damage, when he happened to drive past the site.^[15]

On February 16, 2006, the entire mall property was sold to developer John Deneen of the Emerald Property Group. The remainder of the Montgomery Ward building was torn down March 1 in a widely publicized stunt, but no progress was made to demolish the rest of the mall afterwards. After the news crews left, so did the demolition companies.^[16] Within several months of the Montgomery Ward demolition, liens were placed against the building by several invested companies. Deneen himself threatened the owner of one of these companies with brass knuckles and a firearm (he pled guilty in 2008 to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon).^[17] Attorney General Lisa Madigan also filed lawsuits against Deneen and several previous developers for failing to remove the asbestos in accordance with state law.^[17]

On July 20, 2009, a fire broke out in the entrance to Block C during the late afternoon. The cause of the fire is unknown.^[18] The fire damaged the Block C entrance to the point where its roof collapsed within a month afterward, and left scorch marks on the exterior of the former Penney's building.

In February 2010 it was reported that Chicago-based developers MG Development South LLC were planning to demolish the remains of the mall and replace them with a mixture of big-box stores and other retail on the site.^[17]

On September 23, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn announced that a $4 million dollar federal grant will be used to demolish the mall. Gov. Quinn also stated that the total cost will be around $5 million, with the remainder of the money coming from federal disaster recovery funds given to the state due to flooding in 2008. According to officials, demolition was to start in November and take four to six months.^[19] As of June 2011, ruins of the mall remained standing with demolition funding still available, but with the demolition project itself mired in government regulatory hurdles.^[20]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Dixie Square Mall grand opening flyer
2. ^ ^{a b} ABC News Report, June 7, 2006
3. ^ ^{a b} NBC News Report. "Mall Used In 'Blues Brothers' To Be Torn Down." February 28, 2006 [1]
4. ^ United States Environmental Protection Agency. "National Brownfields Assessment Pilot." (PDF) [2]
5. ^ Paw Filmworks. "Dixie Square Mall History (1961- Present)". Pawfilmworks.com. http://www.pawfilmworks.com/DSMHistory.html. Retrieved 2009-07-17. 
6. ^ "Vintage Dixie Square Mall map". Mallsofamerica.blogspot.com. 2006-08-28. http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/2006/08/vintage-dixie-square-mall-map.html. Retrieved 2009-07-17. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} Paw Filmworks. "Dixie Square Mall History (1961 - present)". Pawfilmworks.com. http://www.pawfilmworks.com/DSMHistory.html. Retrieved 2009-07-17. 
8. ^ "Urban Exploration Resource: Gallery: Dixie Square Mall > Historical Stuff > new_ads012-207x457.jpg". Uer.ca. 2002-06-23. http://www.uer.ca/locations/viewgal.asp?picid=218528. Retrieved 2009-07-17. 
9. ^ Paw Filmworks. "Dixie Square Mall History". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-08-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20060811205745/http://www.dixiesquare.com/history.html. Retrieved 2009-07-17. 
10. ^ Chicago Tribune. July 9, 1987, Chicagoland section, page 8. "HARVEY ORDERS WORK HALT ON ITS NEW POLICE STATION".[3]
11. ^ Chicago Tribune. July 15, 1987, Chicagoland section, page 2. HARVEY POLICE STATION WORK, CONTROVERSY RESUME.[4]
12. ^ ^{a b} Ziemba, Stanley (2005-06-29). "Harvey mall work prompts asbestos suit". Chicago Tribune. 
13. ^ Evans, Cristin Monti (2005-05-17). "Governor announces $15,000 for Harvey police cadet program". Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/index.cfm?metaSection=NewsReleases&metaPage=HARVEY_CADET. Retrieved 2009-07-21. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Ziemba, Stanley (2005-12-21). "State targets Harvey mall asbestos work". Chicago Tribune. 
15. ^ Ziemba, Stanley (2005-07-02). "Work on mall in Harvey sparks a suit over asbestos". Chicago Tribune. 
16. ^ Noel, Josh (2007-04-02). "Threats alleged in mall tiff". Chicago Tribune. 
17. ^ ^{a b c} Schorsch, Kristen (2010-02-16). "Another mission for 'Blues Brothers' mall". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/ct-met-0217-bluesbrothersmall-20100216,0,3130704.story. Retrieved 2010-02-16. 
18. ^ "'Blues Brothers' Mall damaged". WBBM 780. 2009-07-20. http://www.wbbm780.com/-Blues-Brothers--Mall-damaged/4843538. Retrieved 2009-07-21. ^{[dead link]} The news report incorrectly states the fire broke out in Sears; however there was never a Sears store at Dixie Square.
19. ^ "Quinn announces $4 million grant to raze 'Blues Brothers' mall". Chicago Breaking News. 2010-09-23. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/09/quinn-announces-4-million-grant-to-raze-blues-brothers-mall.html. Retrieved 2010-09-23. 
20. ^ Roeder, David (2011-06-07). "Dixie Square ruins remain untouched". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/business/roeder/5826748-417/four-prospective-chicago-casino-sites.html. Retrieved 2011-06-30. 

Further reading

• Luhar-Trice, Christopher W. (2008). Aesthetics of Abandonment: The Dixie Square Project. ISBN 978-0-615-26033-4. 

External links

• Barraclou.com: Dixie Square Mall
• 2003 CLUI Exhibit: "The Best Dead Mall in America"
• Deadmalls.com: Dixie Square Mall
• Exploring Dixie Square Mall
• Labelscar: Dixie Square Mall
• Google Satellite Imagery of Dixie Square Mall pre-demolition
• Photos of the mall in 2011 on Abandoned USA
• "Ghost Mall" Dixie Square, a photo collection on Flickr
• "Documentary of the mall, photo collection of tour"

Coordinates: 41°36′48″N 87°40′07″W / 41.6132°N 87.6687°W / 41.6132; -87.6687