Greengate Mall remembered as community gathering spot

Chad Altman couldn’t help himself.

One day in 2003, he saw a chance to preserve a piece of his youth — and went for it. With a flashlight attached to his forehead, he walked through the tunnel entrance of the empty Greengate Mall.

And he started collecting.

“I grabbed things that I remembered,” said Altman, 58, of Greensburg. “Animal decorations. Christmas decorations. The Greengate Mall mascot.” In an abandoned office, he found “hundreds and hundreds” of slide photographs of the mall.

Some of that memorabilia was on display Sunday afternoon as part of the Westmoreland Historical Society’s annual Remember When program. This year it looked back at the 35-year tenure of one of Pennsylvania’s earliest indoor shopping complexes.

Sitting on what was originally a 55-acre plot of land at the western end of Hempfield, Greengate Mall opened in August 1965 with about 420,000 square feet of retail space that was home to 45 businesses. A number of expansions over the next six years saw the mall grow and become home to 85 stores and three anchors. Above all, it was a community gathering spot.

Gary Nelson, 38, of North Huntingdon grew up in Jeannette and remembers his teenage years spent at the mall that for decades flourished. But as consumer habits changed and competition grew throughout the 1990s, Greengate Mall struggled. It was demolished in 2003.

“A lot of people get sentimental for Greengate Mall,” Nelson said. “Part of it was that part of the community died. It was irreplaceable. That’s what people remember.”

Nelson, the mall’s primary historian, gave an hourlong presentation to more than 120 people who gathered for the historical society’s lunch event at Live Casino Pittsburgh, six miles east of the former Greengate Mall. The casino is located in Westmoreland Mall, which opened in 1977 and, according to Nelson, is what ultimately led to Greengate’s demise.

Greengate Centre, an outdoor shopping complex, opened at the former mall site in 2005.

Lisa Hays, executive director of the Westmoreland Historical Society, said Greengate Mall is a significant piece of the county’s past and its story is worthy of remembrance.

“It was the first mall in Westmoreland County and, for a long time, it was the the only mall outside of Pittsburgh,” Hays said.

Steph DiBernardo, 55, of Unity recalled visiting Greengate Mall with her grandmother.

“We walked the mall all the time. Every time we walked across the mall, my grandmother saw someone she knew. It feels magical looking at all of these pictures,” DiBernardo said as she leafed through books of photos of the former mall, many depicting images from Greengate’s elaborate holiday decorations.

In the 1980s, Altman worked at the mall in several stores and as a volunteer decorator during holiday seasons. He now works in the maintenance department at the South Hills Village mall in Bethel Park, where he helps decorate that shopping center for Christmas, Easter and other holidays.

“I try to put a little bit of Greengate at South Hills Village today,” Altman said.