Mid-Cities Mall (Lakeview Centre) - Manitowoc, WI
The Mid-Cities Mall in Manitowoc, WI, opened in the late 1960's. In the 1980's, the mall started to fall on hard times, and its name was changed to Lakeview Centre; the 1990's fared even worse. The mall finally closed in 2000, with the exception of one of the anchors - JCPenney. The pictures below were taken of the abandoned mall in the spring of 2009. Next to each picture is a diagram of the mall; a red arrow on the diagram points to the area of the mall that is in that particular photo. The diagram is not to scale, it is just meant to give you an idea of where the photo was taken. Click on each photo and diagram to enlarge.
The mall's name was changed from Mid-Cities Mall to Lakeview Centre in the 1980's. The only two tenants left are JCPenney, which is one of the original anchors, and Goodyear Tire Center, which is a detached service center near JCPenneys.
The south side of JCPenney
The east side of JCPenney
The east side of the mall.
Hardees and its drive-thru were added in the 1980's.
The exterior of the Osco Drug store.
The interior of the Osco Drug store. The ceiling tiles on the floor have turned green.
More interior photos of Osco Drug. Where did the "R" in CAMERAS go?
The exterior of the Woolworth store. Notice the plant or tree that is growing out of the door's overhang.
The east side of the abandoned mall. Plenty of room in the spacious parking lot.
Under the blue canopy and facing one of the mall's east-side entrances. Dead leaf pile in front of the doors - half of which of had their glass broken out.
A peek into the mall's corridor through the entrance door.
Montgomery Wards logo on the door handles and on the floor mat.
How did the boarded-up window break in the pic above? A bird crashed through it in the spring of 2007.
The east side of the Montgomery Wards store. It was the first nail in the mall's coffin when this store closed in the early 1980's.
The north side of the mall.
The northwest corner of the mall. At left in both photos is the Montgomery Wards auto service center; at right is their loading dock.
A look at the west side of the mall.
Grocery store. Notice the "S" label scar.
One of the two main entrances on the west side of the mall.
Walk up to the main entrance doors, peek inside and this is what you see.
The grocery store, as seen from the west side.
The west side of the mall.
The other of the two main entrances on the west side of the mall, next to the JCPenney store.
Peek inside the west-side main entrance that is next to JCPenney and this is what you see.
The west side of the mall and the west side of JCPenney.
Inside the mall
If your favorite color is pink, then you would have loved this mall!
Facing south in the mall's main corridor. Store fronts on both sides, and JCPenney all the way down at the end.
Judging by the wet floor seen here and the damaged ceiling tiles in many of the stores, it's obvious the mall's roof has a major leaking issue. The smell of mold and mildew fills the air.
Judging by the wet floor seen here and the damaged ceiling tiles in many of the stores, it's obvious the mall's roof has a major leaking issue. The smell of mold and mildew fills the air.
Penneys store front inside the mall, as it looked in 1984 and in 2009. The 1984 photo was taken at a livestock auction that was held in the mall. Haven't seen a Penneys sign like this in a long time.
The Penneys logo shown here was used in the 1960's. For some reason, the company updated the sign on the exterior of the building but not inside the mall. This took place at other locations, as well.
Additional research: The company's 1971 Spring/Summer Fashion catalog was the last one that I could find that used the Penneys logo (seen here) on its cover; the 1971 Fall/Winter Fashion catalog was stamped with the more-current block JCPenney. This would lead me to believe that the logo change occurred in 1971.
The Penneys logo shown here was used in the 1960's. For some reason, the company updated the sign on the exterior of the building but not inside the mall. This took place at other locations, as well.
Additional research: The company's 1971 Spring/Summer Fashion catalog was the last one that I could find that used the Penneys logo (seen here) on its cover; the 1971 Fall/Winter Fashion catalog was stamped with the more-current block JCPenney. This would lead me to believe that the logo change occurred in 1971.
Facing north in the mall's main corridor. Store fronts on both sides, Montgomery Wards at the end.
The following photos show the east side of the main corridor.
Vandals spray painted the glass of the second store.
The store fronts look to be in pretty good shape. The color scheme is another story.
The following photos show the west side of the main corridor.
That '70's look!
The north east/west corridor
A display case or bulletin board.
On the left it looks to be a small store or perhaps a business such as an optical center; center, a maintenance room; right, the grocery store.
The south east/west corridor
Inside JCPenney: The wall shown in this photo was constructed, presumably in 2000, to close off the store from the rest of the mall. The same damp, moldy odor that is very evident inside the mall is faintly noticeable in this area.