A big new shopping center opened, 60 years ago

The strip mall at Jackson Plaza had its grand opening on Jackson Street in 1957, anchored by Major Rexall Drug and a Piggly Wiggly store.  It was just a few blocks west of another big southside shopping center, the Village.  Other businesses at Jackson Plaza included the Sew ‘N Sew store…Pappy’s Chicken Little restaurant…and Duane’s Record Room, a record store run by local radio deejay and TV weatherman Duane Moore.  Duane worked at WKBH.  Competing station WLCX had its own deejay, Bill Joseph, doing a marathon broadcast over several days from Jackson Plaza during the grand opening.  
 
Students from Central High School got to run a downtown store for a day in ’57.  The students at Central’s retail selling class took the place of the usual sales and management staff at Penney’s on 5th Avenue.  
 
In October of 1957, the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series over the Yankees.  The Series was still played in the daytime, so TV sets showing the games popped up all over Wisconsin.  Doerflinger’s had five sets in their store, and banks and hospitals also had TV’s available for viewing baseball.  La Crosse city police had to listen on the radio to the big series…60 years ago, 1957, yesterday in La Crosse.