So as I was growing up, my Dad told me a story about Shepherd Mall. Shepherd Mall, he says, was named after the Shepherd sisters, who used to own some of the land the mall was built on. The mall was built on a former neighborhood; the people who owned the homes were bought out... all, that is, except for the Shepherds. But that didn't stop the mall, and it didn't stop the sisters. The mall was built next to them, and the parking lot for the mall was paved all around their home. They lived there until they died, and then the house was knocked down and the parking lot was completed. I can't tell you if this story is true, but I can tell you that my dad has lived in OKC for a long time, and I sometimes think about how forlorn their house must have looked, all alone in the parking lot.
This mall was a real mall when I was a kid, where people went to buy stuff, and where I went to trick-or-treat once or twice. Now it's full of offices, most of them government agencies of some variety.
As an aside, some of you may know that OKC has had some unseasonal flooding lately.
Here is a video I found of the street in front of the mall at flood stage.
I remember Shepherd Mall. My mom used to shop there when my sister and I were little. There was an orange julius stand and my sister would always get an orange one and I'd get a strawberry.
ReplyDeleteI heard a lot of malls are closing in OKC these days. Is Crossroads gone already?
I'm not sure. I haven't been that way in a while, but it was open and struggling last time I was there (a long time ago).
ReplyDeleteThe mall is still there, I go there so my son can play at their little play ground. There aren't very many stores, though.
ReplyDeleteIn the cartoon UP, the little man never sales his land and they build all around him, too.