On a February morning in 1963, a new kind of place opened on Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Even in a county that had already seen modern shopping centers, this one still felt strikingly new up close.
It was a fully enclosed shopping mall, all under one roof, with many different stores gathered together simply because someone decided they should be.
Montgomery Ward served as the main anchor store. Inside, shoppers would soon find a G.C. Murphy variety store and an A&P grocery store. A small lunch counter sat inside the pharmacy. There was also a restaurant called the Lamp Post…