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Dixie Square Mall

1966 establishments in Illinois1978 disestablishments in IllinoisBuildings and structures demolished in 2012Demolished buildings and structures in IllinoisDemolished shopping malls in the United States
Harvey, IllinoisShopping malls disestablished in 1978Shopping malls established in 1966Shopping malls in Cook County, IllinoisThe Blues BrothersUrban decay in the United States
Dixie Square 1965
Dixie Square 1965

Dixie Square Mall was an enclosed shopping mall at the junction of 151st Street and Dixie Highway in the Chicago suburb of Harvey, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1966, the mall featured Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, Woolworth, Walgreens, and Jewel as its anchor stores, with discount store Turn Style joining in 1970. The mall was in operation for twelve years, closing permanently in 1978. It is thus considered an early example of a dead mall; it was characterized by high vacancy rates and low patronage, which led to its closure. While many other dead malls were redeveloped or demolished, Dixie Square became notable for its extensive neglect, vandalism damage, and history. After closure, the mall was used for a scene in the film The Blues Brothers and then left abandoned. It achieved notoriety because of a growing Internet cult-following of urban exploration groups dedicated to covering the mall's deteriorating condition. In the decades after the mall closed, numerous proposals to redevelop the property were announced, though none came to fruition. Over the 30-plus years during which these proposals and others were presented and failed, Dixie Square Mall fell into disrepair due to weather, vandalism, and a lack of maintenance funds. Yet another proposal resulted in partial demolition, which was halted. Final demolition began in February 2012 and was completed in May of that year.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Dixie Square Mall (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Dixie Square Mall
Leavitt Avenue, Thornton Township

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.6132 ° E -87.6687 °
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Address

Leavitt Avenue
60426 Thornton Township
Illinois, United States
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Dixie Square 1965
Dixie Square 1965
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Harvey station (Illinois)
Harvey station (Illinois)

Harvey is one of two Metra Electric commuter rail stations along the line's Main Branch in Harvey, Illinois. The station is located at Park Avenue and 154th Street, and is 20.0 miles (32.2 km) away from the northern terminus at Millennium Station. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Harvey is in zone D. As of 2018, Harvey is the 102nd busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 471 weekday boardings.Compared to most stations along the Metra Electric line, including Harvey's other station at 147th Street, Harvey is quite grand in its appearance, at least in the vicinity of its given location. The station is located two blocks from City Hall, and next to Pace's Harvey Transportation Center.Parking is available along Park Avenue and the west side of the tracks between 155th Street and a bridge for a Canadian National Railway line that crosses underneath the Metra Electric Main Branch, as well as the Amtrak line that runs parallel to it, carrying the City of New Orleans, Illini, and Saluki trains. These tracks carried the intercity-trains of the Illinois Central until 1971, and most trains stopped here. It also contains a much larger parking lot on the east side of the tracks surrounded by 155th Street, Commercial Avenue, and 156th Street. On the evening of October 12, 1979, a switchman incorrectly aligned a switch in front of an oncoming Amtrak train, leading it to go across a now-removed crossover into a stationary freight train. The resulting crash killed 2 crew members of the freight train in what would become known as the Harvey, Illinois train collision.