A Look Back: Monroe Mall’s Transformation in Downtown Grand Rapids

Today, we all know the beauty of Rosa Parks Circle, downtown Grand Rapids. With the amphitheater and stage you'll find festivals, jazz, dances, Art Prize, and ice skating in the winter. But, it hasn't always looked like this.

Thanks to the website GR Retro, we go back to '80s, when Monroe, and the mall, took on a totally different look. It wasn't Rosa Parks Circle. It was the Monroe Mall, a mall without autos, just people. And, the plaza had a big fountain and waterfall.

They did hold concerts and the like, but no ice skating. The new art museum, the GRAM, hadn't been built yet, still occupying the old Federal building.

Of course, who, from back then, could forget Houseman's, in the background? Fine clothing for all.

And then, the classic telephone gazebo.

It was across the street from Flannagan's, at the beginning of the mall. They were pay phones! What were cell phones back then? Nothing! They didn't exist.

The Monroe Mall was the focal point of a different kind of Downtown Grand Rapids when downtowns were home to major retail establishments like Herpoosheimer's and Wuirzburg's before they either closed or moved to suburban locations.