Last I checked in on Elkhart’s old Pierre Moran Mall, the future of what’s now known as Woodland Crossing seemed to be shifting: city officials announced plans to purchase the stagnant site for $5 million. The plan intended to transform the property into a new “neighborhood hub” with expanded healthcare and job training services through a partnership with Heart City Health and Goodwill Industries¹. Back in April, I drove up to Elkhart see what the site looks like today.

I’m curious about places where people once gathered. That interest often leads me to schoolhouses and courthouses, but I’ve got a soft spot for movie theaters, too. They don’t even have to be particularly old to catch my eye, and case in point is the long-shuttered Holiday I and II in Elkhart. I found myself slowing down there on my last visit, camera in hand. I couldn’t resist grabbing a few photos of a place that once flickered with life.

Have you ever spotted a giant fiberglass statue standing along the side of the road? Chances are, you found a Muffler Man. Manufactured by International Fiberglass of Venice, California¹, the icons stood between eighteen and twenty-five feet tall² and became some of the most recognizable advertising figures along roadside America. Originally designed to sell practically everything, they haven’t been manufactured in fifty years³. Still, Route 66 is still home to at least four famous Muffler Men⁴. Now, Richmond can proudly add another to the list.

If you’re a fan of roadside architecture and vintage signage, behold this monstrosity just west of New Castle’s Raintree Hotel. Beneath all that awkward paneling and decades of modifications, guess what I think is hiding underneath: my money’s on the framework of one of Holiday Inn’s landmark Great Signs. Those towering neon beacons were icons of the American highway! 

Dead malls rarely make news because of what opens inside them. More often, it’s another closure, another demolition plan, or another reminder that their best days are firmly in the past. That’s why I did a spit-take when I learned Ashley Furniture had moved into Richmond Mall’s old OfficeMax space! A new tenant filling more than 25,000 square feet in a moribund shopping center isn’t something you see every day, so I wanted to look back at the long history of the space it now occupies.