Montana Story
Growing Up in Billings in the '80s
Rimrock Mall was the new center of gravity, JCPenney left downtown in 1982, and the Mustangs played on old wood at Cobb Field.
Here are a few Billings markers from the 1980s that hold up on paper. The rest is yours.
Rimrock Mall. It opened on September 11, 1975, on what had been a sugar beet farm in the West End, and 10,000 cars came through on opening day, according to Wikipedia. By 1976 Montgomery Ward, Hennessy’s and Herberger’s anchored it. The Denver Dry Goods store opened in fall 1978 and closed in 1981. Rimrock 4 (later 5) showed movies inside the mall, and World West opened in its own building on the lot in 1979.
Downtown takes a hit. When The Denver closed, businessman Bruce Crippen tried to get JCPenney to take its mall space and keep the downtown store going too. Penney’s moved to the mall instead, opening in February 1982 and leaving downtown. Wikipedia calls the effect on downtown retail decidedly negative. Hart-Albin, the big downtown department store, has its own story here.
Cobb Field. The Billings Mustangs played at Cobb Field, which seated 4,200 and was mostly built of the same wood it went up with. It came down after the 2007 season, and Dehler Park opened in its place in 2008.
Still around. The Dude Rancher Lodge on North 29th has been renting rooms since 1950, and Village Inn Pizza is back on Central Avenue.
Remember this place? Tell us what you remember.
Sources
Filed under: Businesses, Growing Up Montana, Main Street
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