Laurel Shopping Center is an open-air shopping complex located in

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River, in northern Prince George's County. Its population was 30,060 at the 2020 census. Founded as a mill town i ...

, on

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

just south of

Maryland Route 198 Maryland Route 198 (MD 198) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from Maryland Route 650, MD 650 near Spencerville, Maryland, Spencerville east to the entrance of Fort George G. Meade beyond its junction with Mary ...

, and is positioned next to the

Towne Centre at Laurel Towne Centre at Laurel is a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland. It was built on the former site of Laurel Mall. History On August 14, 2012, the city of Laurel hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to begin destruction of the former Laurel Mall. A ...

. The shopping center is widely known as the site of the 1972 near-fatal attempted assassination on Alabama Governor

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

during his campaign for the U.S. presidency.

History

The $2 million shopping center on was developed by Berman Enterprises LP and opened on November 14, 1956, with 30 stores. The developers also developed the Ingleside Shopping Center near

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. On April 24, 1964, the

Hecht Company Hecht's was an American department store chain founded in 1857 by Samuel Hecht, Jr. It was headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operated in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern United States. The family business was acquired by The May Department Stor ...

opened an store, its sixth location in the Washington, D.C., area, at the center. A notable feature of the store at its opening was the French Provincial beauty salon and snack bar. The store closed and moved to adjacent Laurel Mall in 1981. Subsequent to the May 15, 1972, attempt on

's life, Wallace was left paralyzed from the waist down. A bank branch remains near the location of the assassination attempt – Equitable Trust at the time and currently

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

. Three days before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, hijacker

Mohamed Atta Mohamed Atta (1 September 196811 September 2001) was an Egyptian terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist, he was the ringleader of the September 11 attacks and served as the Aircraft hijacking, hijacker-pi ...

sent $5,000 to Mustafa Ahmad via a wire transfer he initiated at the Giant Food store located in the shopping center.

Current

Anchor stores include Giant Food,

CVS Pharmacy #REDIRECT CVS Pharmacy {{R from other capitalisation Company now has a new name to go along with it's anti-tobacco changes. New name is CVS Health ...

, Harbor Freight Tools,

Marshalls Marshalls, Inc. is an American chain of discount store, off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store (stores operating with HomeGoods combined), ...

department store, and

LA Fitness Fitness International LLC is a North American gym chain with over 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California. History In 1984, the first LA Fitness was founded by founder C ...

. The Laurel Shopping Center is adjacent to the

, which replaced Laurel Mall in 2014.

References

External links

Laurel Shopping CenterCNN: George Wallace's Appointment in Laurel
Shopping malls in Maryland Buildings and structures in Laurel, Maryland Shopping malls in the Washington metropolitan area Shopping malls established in 1956 1956 establishments in Maryland {{US-mall-stub