Visit to Manitowoc Wisconsin's other dead mall

 

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

Manitowoc's other dead mall -- the New Lakeshore Mall, formerly known as the Edgewater -- is located adjacent to the Mid-Cities site and has been sitting empty since 2018.  Constructed in the late 1970s , its 20 tenants were originally anchored by Prange’s department store on one end and Prange Way discount department store on the other. 

With just a handful of stores remaining, most of them local merchants with limited drawing power, the mall limped into the 2010s, emptying out when Younker's Department Store, which operated as a subsidiary of the Bon-Ton, closed its doors.

As viewed from the site of the demolished Mid-Cities Mall'

Why the twin demise?

When Interstate 43 connecting Milwaukee and Green Bay opened in 1981 (red arrows), all of Manitowoc subsequent retail development took place along a one-mile stretch of Washington Avenue heading east into Manitowoc. (Purple box,) And once Walmart chose this location in the mid-1980s, any chance of a retail revival of the malls (black box) went out the window. 

Edgewater is still awaiting its demolition. I imagine the City is still attempting to scrounge up the funds for this project. 

In the 1950s and 60s, Manitowoc was a place where a high school graduates could immediately move into a good-paying job that supported a middle-class lifestyle. Most is those jobs have vanished years ago.