A ghostly image of the sign that once greeted hordes of excited shoppers
Parole Plaza first opened it's doors in the year 1962, in the outskirts
of the city of Annapolis Maryland. Only the second of it's kind in
the entire state, it ushered in a new era of convienience. The one
stop shopping adventure allowed the modern, mobile consumer a chance to
purchace everything from bread, milk and toilet paper, to shoes and slacks,
to books, tvs or even a hunting riffle !
Once a bustling SEARS, now an empty shell
Vacant concourse that once housed a variety of popular stores
Boarded up row that once housed many thriving businesses
A modern ghost town awaits the wrecking ball
This building once housed a Kmart
Another side of the SEARS store
Former Woodward & Lothrop (WOODIES) store, added to mall a few
years later
Located just off of US 50 outside
of Annapolis, it
became a popular spot for those
who wanted a centralized shopping
venue. It's major attractions
were a Sears and Woodward & Lothrop
anchors with various smaller
stores scattered throughout it's large
courtyard. The shopping
center was fairly successful until the late 1970s,
when the construction of Annapolis
Mall occurred (located within 1 mile of
Parole Plaza), at which time
the Parole Plaza took on the role of ancillary
mall, with it's aging facades
and deteriorating infrastructure. Thanks to the
continued leasing by the 2 major
anchors and a Kmart, the center survived
until the early 1990's with
the close of the Woodward & Lothrop
(Woodies) store, followed by
the move of the Kmart to a freshly constructed
facility. Tenants of the
mall slowly vanished in the mid to late 1990's until
the only fixtures left in the
center were the Sears and a weekend flea
market housed in one of the
larger vacancies in the center. The Sears
finally closed in April of 2002,
moving into the nearby Annapolis Mall's
recently vacated anchor Montgomery
Wards. Parole Plaza was
demolished in the late summer
of 2004 to make way for a Walmart and an
office/retail/residential complex
which will include a transportation center. The once mighty retail marvel no longer stands, and has met it's destiny with the wrecking ball.
Parole Plaza was an
excellent example of late 50's/early 60's style retail
architecture. It is sad
to know that the mall has been domolished, instead
of being restored to it's former glory.
Terra Server Image from 1994:
Links with information about
Parole Plaza:
Other links with photos of Parole
Plaza:
If you have any additional information regarding Parole Plaza (especially
older 1960's thru 1980's photographs or historical information), please
feel free to email the webmaster
All images and text contained on this page © 2002-2005 Dan Carter.
Please email for permission before
using any copywrite material LAST
UPDATED 09:08pm EST April 05, 2005
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=18&X=1832&Y=21578&W=1&qs=%7cParole%7cMD
http://www.balto-region-partners.org/canavan_letter.htm
http://www.sturbridgehomes.com/html/annapolistowncenter.html
http://groups.msn.com/dcgrocery/otherdcretailampmisc.msnw?Page=2&pgmarket=en-us
http://www.iaxb.com/hoto/hoto10.htm
Dan
Carter
