Construction of Battlefield Mall

    Last time I wrote about construction of the Shrine Mosque in Springfield. This time I decided to write about another major building project in Springfield history: construction of Battlefield Mall.
    Plans for construction of Battlefield Mall first came to public attention in early January 1966, when it was announced that Dr. Francis McClernon was getting ready to sign a 75-year lease on his property at the northwest corner of Glenstone and Battlefield Road with Hermel, Inc., an Indianapolis development firm. At the time, Battlefield Road did not actually extend all the way to Glenstone, and approval of that road project was part of the contingency plan. The area was still relatively rural and undeveloped at the time. Other than McClernon's home site, about the only other things on the 65-acre farm were a few billboards along Glenstone. Initial plans called for development of 35 of those acres with an option to develop the other 30 acres to the north, which would extend the mall all the way to Sunset Street. Montgomery Ward had already signed a lease agreement with Hermel, and its proposed store, consisting of almost 119,000 square feet of floor space, would anchor the mall. It was reported later in the year that a second major department store had also signed a lease agreement. Identity of the store was not revealed at first, but speculation centered around J. C. Penney.
    In early 1967, rumors swirled that the whole project had been scrapped, but Hermel denied the rumors, and McClernon confirmed that the company had been making regular payments on its lease agreement with him. In mid-1967, it was confirmed that J. C. Penney was, indeed, the second major retailer to sign a lease agreement to locate in Battlefield Mall. The store would occupy approximately 144,000 square feet of floor space, and it was announced at the same time that Montgomery Ward had also upped the amount of floor space its store would require to about the same figure.
    Preliminary construction work finally got under way in September 1968 with a projected completion date for the mall of early 1970. The work had been delayed in part because of the uncertainty of the Battlefield Road extension project. In January 1969, a building permit for the almost $6.5-million mall project was issued by the City of Springfield. It was the largest building permit ever issued in Springfield history. Construction on the project began in earnest immediately after the permit was issued.
    Despite a couple of labor disputes that temporarily delayed work, the mall project was completed in July 1970. A ribbon cutting and other opening-day ceremonies were held on the morning of July 23, with at least 54 of the mall's 62 stores set to open for business later that day.
    Construction of the mall spurred the commercial development of surrounding properties. For instance, work on a Venture store just south of the mall site was begun even before the mall opened. Soon the whole area was a retail hub and definitely no longer rural.