Franklin Park Mall rises from runway grass
Franklin Park Mall sits on Monroe Street about 7 miles northwest of Toledo. Before that, the site operated as Franklin Airport. The private airfield opened in 1939 and used grass landing strips for small aircraft.
The field handled local aviation activity in the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1952, the airport’s closure was announced, and operations were moved to National Airport on Telegraph Road, leaving the property available for redevelopment.
What followed was a long planning period. For roughly two decades, proposals were discussed without construction moving forward on the site…