Washington Square opened in 1974 as the first enclosed, climate controlled mall style super regional shopping center in the Portland area. Lloyd Center, a super regional center, had opened earlier but was not originally enclose. Mall 205 was enclosed but not super regional. The mall is one level and "L" shaped. The longer leg of the "L" extends north from Sears to Meier & Frank. The shorter leg extends east from Meier & Frank to JC Penney. At first Lippmans had a store on the west side of the mall about a third of the way from Sears to Meier & Frank. The Nordstrom store was about two thirds of the way up this wing of the mall on the east side. The Liberty House store was on the north side of the shorter leg of the mall. Some of the stores, including JC Penney, did not open until 1975.
Frederick & Nelson purchased the Tacoma and Portland area Liberty House stores in 1979. Dayton-Hudson closed its Lippmans division in 1980 and expanded its Mervyn's division into the Portland area. Since Frederick & Nelson stores were generally larger than Mervyn's. Frederick's and Mervyn's swapped some stores, including those at Washington Square. After Frederick & Nelson went out of business in the early 1990s, Nordstrom moved into the former Frederick's store. The former Nordstrom store at Washington Square now has shops on the lower level and a food court on the upper level.
The Meier & Frank store has been remodeled in recent years. The store originally looked more like the Vancouver Mall store. A parking garage has been added north of Meier & Frank. Recently, a parking garage has opened on the SW side of the mall. A new wing is under construction on the west side of the mall on ground that had previously been a surface level parking lot.
This photograph was taken in April 2005.
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