Dixie Square Mall was a one-level shopping mall 21.5 miles (34.6 km) southwest of downtown Chicago, Illinois, between West 151st Street, Dixie Highway and Robey Avenue in Harvey, a suburb of Chicago. It had six anchors which once housed JCPenney, Jewel-Osco, Montgomery Ward, Turn Style, Walgreens and Woolworth.
History[]
The Construction for Dixie Square Mall began in 1964, being built on the former land of the Dixie Hi 9-hole golf course. In August 1966, a time capsule was sealed and placed on the property. On November 9, 1966, Dixie Square Mall officially opened to the public with 50 stores including five original anchor tenants, JCPenney, Jewel-Osco, Montgomery Ward, Walgreens and Woolworth. By 1968, the mall had 64 stores open in the mall. Other tenants included Baskin Robbins, Fannie May, Hickory Farms of Ohio, Kinney Shoes, Park Lane Hosiery, Polk Bros, RadioShack, Richman Brothers, Rogers Jewelers, Thom McAn and much more. The mall was doing alright for a few years but began to have major problems. During the 1960s, Chicago began to have a huge problem with poverty as well as violent crime rising due to racial tensions at the time, these same factors began to hit the suburbs of Chicago, the hard hitting suburb was Harvey specifically in the area of the Dixie Square Mall itself. The first issue of crime at Dixie Square began two years after opening in 1968, when a hit and run occurred in the parking lot resulting in the death of a 68 year old woman. In 1970, a new anchor joined the mall which was Turn Style, however this would be the only good news for the mall in future years.
Decline[]
As violent crime began rising in Harvey during the 1970s, the mall started to get a bad reputation for violent crime and being unsafe. This reputation got worse in 1972 when the first major crime occurred at Dixie Square, a young woman was fatally shot and killed in a botched robbery attempt in the parking lot of the mall. More problems with crime at the mall began in April 1973 when another person was shot and killed in a robbery inside the mall. Three months later in July 1973, a teenage girl was lured away from the mall by three other teenage girls, and strangled to death. At this point, most of the stores inside Dixie Square began pulling out or moving to safer Chicago suburbs since crime at the mall was getting worse and worse. In October 1976, Montgomery Ward closed down. In 1977, Woolworth would close along with its Harvest House restaurant. In January 1978, Turn Style would also close down. By October 1978, the mall was mostly vacant with barely any stores left. In November 1978, Dixie Square Mall was permanently closed, leaving only JCPenney, Jewel-Osco and Walgreens operating at the mall. However by 1979, all three of those stores would all permanently close down.
Temporary School[]
In January 1979, the City of Harvey allowed the Harvey-Dixmoor School District to use mall space as a temporary school location while a new school building was constructed. This use, which lasted until 1981, also included conversion of the former Turn Style into a gymnasium. After the school was done using the mall, the property was pretty much left abandoned.
The Blues Brothers (1980)[]
In 1979, director John Landis rented the vacant mall for eight weeks to film a scene in the movie The Blues Brothers. In this scene, main characters Elwood and Jack Blues drive through storefronts, display cases, and walls and destroy much of the mall while being chased by Illinois State Police troopers. The mall interior was left damaged after filming wrapped. A fake wall that film crews constructed, which cars crashed through at the beginning of the scene, was recognizable inside the building until the mid-1980s. The Harvey-Dixmoor School District attempted to sue Universal Pictures in December 1981 for $87,000, citing their failure to repair damage to mall property created during the movie shoot. The district soon vacated the property, and the mall was completely shuttered.
Abandonment[]
After 1981, the Dixie Square Mall was pretty much just left abandoned. Over the years, the mall would constantly get broken into and began to experience extensive neglect and damage from vandalism. Overtime, the City of Harvey was unable to maintain the property as it was physically not repairable. There were many plans to redevelop the property over the years but every single plan would fall through due to high costs. In 1985, the former Wards Auto Service garage in the southwest corner of the mall property was demolished. During the 1990s, gang and drug activities frequently took place inside of the abandoned mall. Despite numerous attempts to board up and secure the mall, it was forced open repeatedly. By the end of the 1990s, trees had grown throughout the former parking lot. In the mid 2000s, a massive fire broke out inside the former Woolworth store and nearly destroyed the building. The fire caused the roof to cave in, and due to that and other structural collapses, sapling started growing inside the former mall. Another fire broke out in the former City Life lounge, causing minor damage to the abandoned bar.
Demolition[]
In January 2012, contractors were finally issued the necessary permits to begin demolishing the abandoned Dixie Square Mall. Demolition was finally completed on May 17, 2012 after the mall was sitting abandoned for 31 years. There has been plans to develop the site but none of the plans have gone into fruition, the land of the former mall still remains vacant to this day.