Dixie Square Mall

Dixie Square Mall History

Construction of the Dixie Square Mall began on a former Harvey Illinois golf course in 1964; the first store to open was Montgomery Ward in 1965, and others followed as the massive complex was gradually completed. Construction was finished in 1966, with grand opening celebrations featuring Homer and Jethro, Art Hodes, and Ned Locke of the Bozo's Circus Show. Sixty four shops were located inside the sprawling complex by 1968, with a Woolworth, Walgreen's, and Jewel supermarket as anchor tenants. Total retail floor space was about 71,000 square feet.

The suburb of Harvey went through a steep decline during the early 1970s, and crime at the mall surged. These crimes were not limited to shoplifting - kidnapping and murder were also committed on the property, including three homicides in one year alone. Along with smaller shops, many of Dixie's anchor tenants left; Montgomery Ward closed in 1976, Turn Style in 1978, and JC Penny in 1978. The latter company held a final clearance sale in 1979 called "Dixie's Last Gasp," where outdated merchandise, mannequins, and display cases were liquidated. This was also the year in which the interior of the mall was shuttered, however the Walgreen's still operated using their exterior entrances. The disused interior was used by the Harvey-Dixmoor School District for two years for temporary classroom space and a gymnasium.

In 1979, the mall was used as a film set for the movie The Blues Brothers, where a car chase took place inside the space, destroying storefronts, walls, and display cases. Many of the stores refused to let their brands appear in the film, so they were disguised as other brands such as Toys-R-Us. The damage was never cleaned up or repaired, resulting in a failed lawsuit between the school district and Universal Pictures and abandonment of the mall.

Once shuttered, the building was ravaged by looters, scrap metal thieves, and arsonists. Discovery of asbestos and regulatory hurdles stymied demolition for decades. After a long process of half-completed demolition projects since 2005, the entire mall was finally razed to the ground in 2012 in hopes to build big box stores on the site, however the land remains as a brownfield lot. Interestingly, this mall stood abandoned for more than twice as long as it was in business.