Interactive Research Timeline Last researched April 20, 2026

Monroeville Mall History

From visible construction in 1968 to the April 8, 2026 redevelopment watch state, this page pulls verified milestones, film history, anchor changes, renovations, and photo credits into one living timeline built to keep expanding.

Back to Mall History Open 1978 Directory Browse 1978 Artifacts

May 13, 1969

The original logo of the Monroeville Mall. Most widely known due to the movie, Dawn of the Dead. This logo was actively used until 1987.

May 13, 1969 Opening Amenities

Grand opening unveils a 125-store mall and the Ice Palace

Monroeville Mall opens with roughly 125 stores, the Clock of Nations, dramatic interior features, and an indoor rink marketed as larger than Rockefeller Center's.

History

**Joseph Horne Co., in Monroeville Mall 1969**Credit: Monroeville Historical Society, 1969

The grand opening is the mall's defining baseline moment. The Monroeville Mall did not open quietly. The day before, Pittsburgh papers were already treating the debut like a major regional event, with an advertising supplement so large it effectively functioned like a small newspaper. The campaign sold the mall as “Big Time Shopping” and emphasized that the opening would bring 125 stores, a huge indoor complex, a dramatic animated clock tower, and an indoor skating rink into Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs. The sales pitch was not just about stores; it was about spectacle, convenience, free parking, climate control, and the promise of a fully modern suburban shopping environment under one roof.

On the morning of 13 May 1969, thousands of people came to the new mall for the formal opening. The ceremony was staged at center ice in the mall’s indoor rink. Don Riggs of WQED served as master of ceremonies. The festivities began with an ice-skating demonstration, after which a roster of local officials, retail executives, and developers took part. The names preserved in a later historical synthesis are unusually specific: developers Edward J. Lewis, Don Soffer, Mark E. Mason, Harry Soffer, and Eugene Lebowitz; Allegheny County Commissioner Leonard C. Staisey; Richard R. Pivirotto of Joseph Horne Co.; Herbert A. Leeds of Gimbels; and Monroeville mayor John J. Duncan. After the remarks, the Gateway High School Marching Band played as shoppers streamed into the concourses.

**Big Time Shopping Only Hours Away**Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/12/1969

What visitors encountered was meant to feel new, polished, and slightly theatrical. Contemporary descriptions and later recollections converge on the same visual impression: skylit promenades, lush tropical plantings, fountains, polished common areas, and specialty storefronts arranged around strong visual set pieces. The mall’s advertising heavily leaned on two attractions. One was the Clock of Nations, a roughly 32-foot vertical centerpiece associated with designer Gere Kavanaugh, promoted as an hourly animated attraction. The other was the Ice Palace, presented in opening publicity as a “new rink-le in shopping” and described as being larger than Rockefeller Center’s rink.

In hard numbers, the opening-day mall was described as about 1.13 million square feet, with 125 stores on two levels, parking for roughly 6,500 cars in scholarly/historical summaries, plus the rink and a lower-level G.C. Murphy as a lower-price variety option. The standard shorthand for the original anchor arrangement is Gimbels at one end, J.C. Penney in the middle, and Joseph Horne Co. at the other end. A parallel historical reading also places the mall within a much larger commercial shift in eastern Allegheny County: compared with older retail like Miracle Mile, Monroeville Mall was a regional-scale machine built for car-oriented suburbia.

There is one important source nuance worth flagging. Many summaries describe Horne’s as one of the mall’s original opening anchors, but one secondary mall-history source says the Joseph Horne Co. store itself did not begin business until 28 August 1969. That does not mean Horne’s was absent from opening-day ceremony coverage; the company’s president is explicitly listed among the dignitaries present on 13 May. The safest source-based wording is this: Horne’s was part of the original anchor scheme and represented at the opening ceremony, but whether the Horne’s sales floor was fully open to customers on 13 May should be treated with caution unless a primary newspaper page is consulted directly.

**Gardens at Monroeville Mall shortly after opening in July 1969**Credit: Monroeville Historical Society, 1969

The broader significance of opening day was immediate. In regional history, Monroeville Mall is treated as the moment when eastern suburban retail decisively scaled up. One scholarly account says it dwarfed Miracle Mile with over a million square feet, 125 stores, parking for 6,500 cars, and a full-size rink; the same account ties the mall to Monroeville’s growth from fewer than 8,000 residents in 1950 to 33,000 by 1976. Opening day, then, was not just a ribbon cutting. It was a public declaration that the commercial center of gravity was moving outward from older shopping districts into the automobile suburb.

The 32-foot-tall Clock of Nations at Monroeville Mall featured 12 animated puppets representing the primary ethnic groups of the Pittsburgh area. Designed by Gere Kavanaugh, the clock was located in the Gimbels court and served as a major attraction from the mall's opening in 1969 until its removal in the late 1980s. While historical records frequently note that these puppets represented the "different ethnicities of Pittsburgh," a definitive list of the specific twelve nationalities was not preserved in major contemporary mall documentation.

**US Rocket displayed on opening day at the Monroeville Mall**Credit: Monroeville Historical Society, 7/4/1969

However, the Monroeville clock was modeled after Kavanaugh’s previous design for Midtown Plaza in Rochester, New York. The Rochester version—which has been restored and is currently on display at Tower 280—represents these 12 nationalities: Ireland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Israel, Japan, India, Thailand, Mexico, Nigeria, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico (represented as a distinct culture).

The Mall officially opened on May 13, 1969 as a two-level regional mall with 125 stores, dramatic interior landscaping, fountains, the "Clock of Nations" with animatronic figures, and the Ice Palace skating rink promoted as larger than New York City's famous Rockefeller Center's rink. This celebration event marks a new chapter in the history of Monroeville which will inevitably propel them into the history books with the future events that will transpire in this location.

Key Historical Facts

Official Opening: 13 May 1969
Official Square Footage: 1,130,000 sq. ft. or 105,000 m. sq.
The Ice Palace skating rink providing a huge attraction for the community
125 restaurant, service, and general retail stores, including dramatic interior landscaping, fountains, and the Clock of Nations

Clock of Nations Operation Details:

Performance Schedule: One individual puppet would perform every hour on the hour
Grand Finale: All 12 puppets would emerge and perform simultaneously twice daily, typically at 1:00 PM and 6:00 PM
Appearance: The puppets were housed in boxes or "capsules" that opened during their performance, often accompanied by traditional folk music

1965 Average Cost of Living

What everyday life cost during this chapter of Monroeville Mall history.

1965 Snapshot

Milestone Videos

Playable milestone video records associated with "Grand opening unveils a 125-store mall and the Ice Palace".

1 video

Watch on YouTube Open Artifact

Monroeville Mall Big Time Shopping Advertisement Circa 1969-1972YouTube Video

Big Time Shopping is here at the Monroeville Mall. This add was part of the original "Big Time Shopping" campaign with the launch of this new mall in 1969. Therefore, this television advertisement would have aired around the time of the opening of the mall. The Monroeville Mall is located in Monroeville, PA, site of the George Romero classic movie, Dawn of the Dead (1978).