Two weeks after demolition started on the Muncie Mall Sears, crews are making quick work of the cavernous old store. It’s weird to watch a fifty-year institution get reduced to rubble in a matter of weeks, but that’s exactly what’s happening as Hull Property Group clears the way for whatever it insists will make the property viable again.
Continue reading “Making quick work of the Muncie Mall Sears”
Downtown Muncie’s tallest building is also its most unusual. Every year, incoming Ball State students and Muncie transplants wonder about the 165-foot monolith at 329 East Jackson Street, curious about the unusual shape of the top of its tower. Although the original iteration of the building dates to much earlier, the building’s tallest part was completed in 19701 to house microwave antennas as part as AT&T’s Long Lines network. Recently, I finally found some photos of them in action.
Continue reading “I finally found photos of Muncie’s microwave horns”
I’ve driven through and poked around Delaware County’s unincorporated community of Granville, Indiana, for years. By now, I’ve gotten my passport stamped at nearly every attraction the little place has to offer: the landmark flowing well, the old schoolhouse, and the metal truss bridge just east of town. One stubborn blank spot remained on my Granville checklist, though: I could see the Granville Cemetery, but I just couldn’t get to it!
Continue reading “Delaware County’s Granville Cemetery”
A little over six months after new owners announced plans to demolish Muncie Mall, the wrecking crew has finally reached one of its most important pieces. Sears, an original anchor that stood at the mall for more than half a century, is coming down. After months of waiting, wondering, and watching work creep around the edges, the demolition of Muncie Mall is suddenly very real.
Continue reading “Down goes Sears: Muncie Mall’s original anchor is being demolished”
A friend tipped me off that crews were working inside Sears and J.C. Penney, construction fencing was spreading across the parking lot, holes were being dug outside, and -most ominously- Muncie Mall’s water had supposedly been shut off. That sounded like the beginning of the end I’d been waiting to document! Naturally, I decided to investigate the water situation by drinking a Monster Energy, a quart of water, and half a gallon of Kroger Zero Sugar Raspberry Tea before the mall opened Saturday morning. Then my brother and I headed over to see what was left. Is demolition finally imminent?
Continue reading “Nine stores and a demo crew at Muncie Mall”
Muncie’s Westside Park is getting a new playground1. You might think it’s earned one after the park was completely submerged by hundred-year floodwaters just a few weeks ago, but it’s only been nine years since the current playground was installed2! More time has passed since Westside lost the landmark Miracle & Jamison Mark IV Timberline structure I remember from my youth, and here’s hoping whatever comes next is even half as memorable as the Timberline was.
Continue reading “Westside Park’s playground is being replaced. I still miss the one IT replaced.”
A house on Wheeling Avenue near the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Muncie has piqued my interest for years. It doesn’t take much imagination to see it as an old schoolhouse, and it sits just a few blocks north of where Center Township’s old District 9 building once stood. Could it be the old structure? I’m not so sure.
Continue reading “This home probably wasn’t Muncie’s old Mound schoolhouse”
Longtime readers here know that I’m fascinated by tornado sirens. I’ve tracked down all of Muncie’s aging Thunderbolts, the Banshee on top of the old courthouse, and even some of the modern 2001-SRNs scattered around these parts. It’s rare that they actually become newsworthy, but the other day, they did! A little.
Continue reading “Muncie’s sirens still sounded after the flood”
I’d passed this statue for years. Once I knew it was a Kishel, I couldn’t believe I’d overlooked it. Skreee! That’s the sound my brakes made as they went from “kind of need replaced” to “tin foil.” I had to stop and learn more about it.
Continue reading “The Shepherd of south Muncie”
It’s been a while since much demolition was visible at the doomed Muncie Mall, and I’m beginning to get antsy. I emailed its owner to ask when the process might resume and, more importantly, when my stats might start climbing again! Of course, I heard nothing but crickets. Instead of an update, I decided to look at where some of the mall’s old stores have wound up instead. As it turns out, the Muncie Mall diaspora hasn’t scattered very far. In a couple of cases, groups of two or three former tenants are right next to each other!
Continue reading “Where them stores at? These have moved on from Muncie Mall”