Marsh Supermarkets made waves around the midwest in 1966 when it entered the fast-growing segment of convenience stores. By the time it was sold to a private equity firm forty years later, Marsh operated 154 Village Pantries around Indiana and Ohio! The oldest have been repurposed, and I try to take pictures when I run across them.
Continue reading “Spotted in the wild: the first Village Pantry”
Elderly barns are emblematic of the rural Midwest. In every shade from classic red to weathered brown, barns of various shapes and sizes tell a tale of an enduring agricultural tradition. South of Muncie, the legacy of a tiny barn on US-35 relates a different story: it has to do with ice cream.
Continue reading “Welcome to Pat’s Dairy Bar-n”
Although Elkhart, Indiana’s Pierre Moran Mall was the first of four to eventually open in Michiana, it was mostly empty during my visits in the early 2000s. It’s mostly empty today too, eighteen years after a $10 million project converted it to an outdoor power center called Woodland Crossing. Last week, news broke that the city of Elkhart is stepping in to try and change things.
Continue reading “New Life for the Pierre Moran Mall?”
I’ve always thought Marsh Supermarkets featured stand-out architecture that wildly surpassed any of its competitors. I’d even go so far as to say that I think some of its buildings from the 1960s and 80s were iconic! Marsh’s emblematic design language even extended to its division of Village Pantry convenience stores. Although the company went through five distinct design eras, examples of each are still ubiquitous around Central Indiana. The other day, I drew them all in Adobe Illustrator.
Continue reading “A Village Pantry visual primer”
We live in an evolving entertainment environment where many of our favorite movie theaters have been repurposed for other uses. Where I live, old cinemas are home to bingo halls and plumbing supply stores! Anderson’s Applewood 9 may have closed fifteen years ago, but its building has come back from the dead: today, it’s a haunted house!
Continue reading “Back from the dead: Anderson’s old Applewood 9”
It doesn’t take much for me to start yammering about amusement park rides and slides: a rusty metal pole was enough to get me to write 2,000 words about Muncie’s old Kiddieland! Many don’t recall the place since it was only open for two years in the 1950s, but I’m sure you’ll find someone who remembers Muncie’s giant Kmart slide if you ask around. Aside from the memories, a concrete pad is all that remains of the structure.
Continue reading “Muncie’s old “Big Dipper” slide at Kmart”
Although Muncie’s Lees Inn was built in 1986, it took thirty-four years before the motel made a big splash with area residents as Quality Inn: in 2020, its roof fell into its swimming pool! I happened to drive past the place the day after the roof caved in and, thankfully, managed to snag some pictures.
Continue reading “Quality Inn made a big splash in Muncie”
The Marsh on Forest Avenue in Marion’s Northgate Shopping Center opened in 1960. The company first remodeled the building in the 1980s before changing the layout again in 2005 to closer resemble its new “Lifestyle” supermarkets like the one in Fort Wayne. Fresh Encounter, an Ohio grocer, purchased the building out of bankruptcy in 2017. Today, it’s a Needler’s Fresh Market.
Continue reading “Abandoned Marsh: Forest Avenue in Marion”
Burger King isn’t an enigma. You order, hold the pickle and lettuce. If all goes to plan, your special order won’t upset the people behind the counter! Nevertheless, a mystery about a specific restaurant in the chain took up a Whopper-sized chunk of real estate in my brain: for the last quarter-century, I was convinced that the Burger King in Fort Wayne my grandparents took my brother and me to had a playground encapsulated by an inflatable dome.
Continue reading “Fort Wayne’s Maplecrest Burger King: a childhood mystery solved”
Going to the movies is an immersive social experience heightened, in my opinion, by seeing an anticipated new release in an iconic, old theater. The Muncie Mall 3, also known as Movies at Muncie Mall and the Muncie Mall Dollar Movies was not an iconic theater. It eventually became old, though, while thirty years of moviegoers -myself included- escaped from their everyday lives and indulged their imaginations from within its walls. That’s why I’m writing about it today.
Continue reading “No more Movies at Muncie Mall”
Ted Shideler 