Eisenhower was President. Elvis was King. It was 19 August 1959,
and a new era in Kalamazoo's history was about to begin. The
nation's first pedestrian shopping mall opened on the two blocks
of South Burdick Street between Water and South Streets with
much fanfare, a mere two and a half months after construction
first began. The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra was on hand to celebrate
the event with 50,000 people who visited the mall on its first
day, more than ten times the usual number. So why would a city
construct a pedestrian mall in the heart of its business
district? Like the rest of the country, Kalamazoo faced urban
decay. The growth of suburban shopping centers raised fears that
downtown would lose its place as the business and cultural heart
of the community. The city hoped that a mall would bring back
business and counter the decline in real estate values. The
Gruen Plan The Kalamazoo 1980 plan, also known as the Gruen
Plan, was presented by the architectural firm Victor Gruen &
Associates in March 1958. I