The dead, dead Montgomery Mall  . . . so convenient, so wonderful, in its day. The empty hulk stands at the intersection of McGehee Road and Southern Boulevard, a spot believed in 1970 to be the future epicenter of Montgomery. The Montgomery Fair, frightened by an inroad of Lovemans and Normandale, left downtown and plunked down here all by itself circa 1969, but other stores quickly followed. Construction of Eastdale Mall did not hurt this center, which doubled in size in 1988. However, an area crime wave in 1999, and the opening of Eastchase in 2002, were its undoing.  Never has a piece of real estate gone from premier to desolate with such rapidity. The city has moved some public services, like fire and police departments, into the structure so it does not go completely to waste.

_Charles Humphries