MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Just mention the name, and people will start telling stories. In he mid 1950’s the city of Montgomery opened a new state of the art, high end fashion area. It was known as Normandale.
“The grand opening of Normandale Shopping Center was scheduled for Sep. 10, 1954,” said author Willie Moseley. “The day before, the pending event was the lead story in the Montgomery Advertiser.”
Located at 500 East Patton Avenue, the place had people coming to Montgomery from all over the Southeast. It was so successful developers from California came out to take a look.
“It was really a cutting edge type of business. Having “umpteen” different businesses under one roof, and it was an outdoor type roof, it was not a mall. It was an outdoor mall with covered walkways.”…