Things you don't see in Huntsville anymore (Decatur, Redstone Arsenal: section 8, 2009)

[Charles]

I found this cool set of photos of an old mall in Huntsville called "The Mall".
Does anybody remember it?

(Click below - not sure if they are protected so I didn't post them.)

"For the first time, photos are now available of "The Mall". As one of the lost malls of Huntsville, this mall was a living time capsule. It is the creepiest mall I have ever seen, and it was in a very decrepit state when these photos were taken. The Mall was just one of a treasure trove of mid-century architectural treasures (depending on how you look at it) along US 231 aka The Parkway. The Parkway was the original suburban strip in Huntsville, and it included all of Huntsville's original malls also including Heart of Huntsville, Dunnavant's Mall and Parkway City Mall. Only the last today continues to operate as a mall, today a newly reconstructed Parkway Place Mall. The photos in this article, taken by Evans Criswell on January 12, 1998, show the mall in its sad last days prior to demolition."

from

Georgia Retail Memories: The Mall: Huntsville, AL (Update with Exclusive Photos!)




YouTube - Fountain at The Mall, Huntsville, AL 1994



Are there other things worth posting in this thread that you don't see in Huntsville anymore?

[Charles]

Did you know that the current Huntsville airport is actually the third Huntsville airport?

The site of the original Huntsville Airport is located southwest of the intersection of Whitesburg Drive & Bob Wallace Avenue.

The second airport was just west of Memorial Parkway at Airport Road. The runways and taxiways are still there as is the terminal parking circle. I drove around there the other day and parked about where the old terminal was and thought about guys like Von Braun flying in and out of there. Pretty historical.

Check this out:

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Alabama, Huntsville area

[Sarges Dad]

The Mall is still there. Just not as "The Mall" and not in it's origional form...Except the Toys R Us end. Toy's R Us is the origional building. I have not been in any of the rest of it since they changed it.

[Keeper]

WoW.. where do you find those things Charles? I remember ''The Mall" and going to JC Penney's to buy clothes.

I also remember the airport used in the mid 60s. Funny thing is it seemed to be far away back in those days. There was nothing around it.

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Charles

Did you know that the current Huntsville airport is actually the third Huntsville airport?

The site of the original Huntsville Airport is located southwest of the intersection of Whitesburg Drive & Bob Wallace Avenue.

The second airport was just west of Memorial Parkway at Airport Road. The runways and taxiways are still there as is the terminal parking circle. I drove around there the other day and parked about where the old terminal was and thought about guys like Von Braun flying in and out of there. Pretty historical.

Check this out:

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Alabama, Huntsville area

Now, here's a little imagination exercise: where would you put the 4th airport in 20 yrs when the "baby Atlanta" grows up?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by friday13

Now, here's a little imagination exercise: where would you put the 4th airport in 20 yrs when the "baby Atlanta" grows up?

Somewhere on the decommissioned Redstone Arsenal, near the Section 8 housing that the VB I, II, and III complex became.

[mm42]

Very cool, Charles. I remember tossing pennies into that fountain.

The only thing I remember about the old airport was the Mister Donut that was in front of it.

There's also Redstone Army Airfield. For big meetings in DC, they would fly out of there in a large group on a government plane.

Redstone Army Airfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A History of Redstone Army Airfield



REDSTONE ARMY AIRFIELD CHRONOLOGY

You can see Dr. Von Braun and other officials welcoming President Eisenhower to the airfield here:



Here's Heart of Huntsville Mall, with its beautiful concrete floors:





The old facade of Parkway City Mall (now Parkway Place):



And Pizitz and the Junction inside:




Here's something we haven't seen in a while, flooding downtown:



This happened in 1973, when 9-10 inches of rain fell in a 48 period throughout North Alabama all along the course of the Tennessee River.

National Weather Service Huntsville, AL - A Look Back at the March 1973 Flood

The Times was printed in blue ink, supposedly because all the black in was in the flooded basement:


Here's the old Whitesburg Drive-in Theater:





Here's the old University Six theater, which will always hold a special place in my heart since I saw Star Wars there on opening day:

[Charles]

Originally Posted by mm42

Here's the old Whitesburg Drive-in Theater:

Drive-ins.com - Whitesburg Drive-In

There was also Woody's Drive In:

Drive-ins.com - Woody's Drive-In


Historical Movie Theatre Information, Huntsville and Decatur, AL

[Charles]

Alabama Hawks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Booster Club of the Huntsville Hawks, Continental Football League

By the way, I noticed on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Frank_Stadium

that Milton Frank Stadium opened was constructed in 1949 but didn't open until 1963. Can anyone explain this?

[harry chickpea]

Charles, I was wondering when someone would come across Evan's site. He really did a fair amount of work researching the theatres in the area and came up with some good info.