The Providence Arcade

The Arcade is the United States' first shopping mall, and the US' oldest.

History

The Arcade is the United States' oldest mall, and is located in downtown Providence Rhode Island. It was the first monumental buisness building in Providence, and the oldest. The Arcade was built around the early 19th century, (1828 to be exact) and is styalized like an ancient Greek temple. In 1944, the Arcade was nearly demolished, only to be saved by the Rhode Island Association For the Blind, and was still suffering from the 1920 New England Hurricane, as well as the Great Depression. For many years as far as into the 1970s it suffered from poor economny. Then in the 1980s, during the Providence Renaissance, it picked up and got extensive refurbishing. Today the Arcade is a bustiling mall crowded full of tourists and locals.