My cousin Brian shared a news story with me today from the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He is into history like I am. And this Thursday Throwback took me back.
Aug. 2, 1963: The new South County shopping mall opens and dazzles St. Louis
Famous-Barr was a department store that was a St. Louis icon for many years. The company came about from a merger of the William Bar Dry Goods Co and the Famous Clothing Store: Famous-Barr. The merger took place in 1914, and their first store was located in Downtown St. Louis in the Railway Exchange building. If you talk to anyone who grew up in St. Louis and the surrounding counties, everyone will tell you they have been to a Famous-Barr department store at least once in their lives. I was definitely one of them. I remember going to South County Center when I was a kid. We would go back to school shopping, Christmas shopping, and birthday shopping. And one major stop was Famous-Barr. And it was my favorite place to shop around Christmas. When they built the store, they included a Rotunda or Cupola (a small dome, especially a small dome on a drum on top of a larger dome). And they would have a HUGE Christmas tree that went up the center of the dome. It was the largest tree I had ever seen. I wish we had pictures. But all I have is memories.
So when my cousin sent me this article, I just went down memory lane. Happy memories. But my mood soon shifted to melancholy. Even though the South County center is still there, so much has changed. Famous-Barr was eventually taken over by Macy's and the name was retired in 2006. I grew up and moved away. My grandma couldn't go shopping anymore once she got older in age. When I came back to live in Missouri, my grandma wasn't able to stay at her home for very long. She passed away in 2015. Nothing was the same. But I do have happy memories and I will hold onto them as long as I can.
So here are some old photos and newspaper articles from that day back in 1963 when Famous-Barr opened at South County Center. Take a walk down memory lane with me.
Famous-Barr South County Opening
Article from Oct 16, 1963 St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) St louis history, Otd
Famous Bar Opens South County Store
Article from Aug 3, 1963 St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri) Otd, St louis history
Famous-Barr South County Store opens Friday
Article from Jul 27, 1963 St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri) Otd, St louis history
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2014-12-11/reliving-the-heydays-of-famous-barr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous-Barr
https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/aug-2-1963-the-new-south-county-shopping-mall-opens-and-dazzles-st-louis/collection_ea4a2ab8-4d2f-599c-bdb0-961a744040ea.html
No comments:
Post a Comment