Northland Shopping Center (Gone)
Tulsa, OK
Photos courtesy Chris King

If you wandered into this overgrown patch of weeds a few years ago, you'd have stumbled upon one of Tulsa's forgotten roadside relics. Standing quietly on a hillside, the weathered marquee for Northland Shopping Center had long outlived the bustling retail center it once advertised. Rusted, faded, and nearly swallowed by vegetation, it served as one of the last visible reminders of a shopping center that was once considered one of the city's most modern.

Developed by Max Campbell and opened in the late 1950s near 36th Street North and Peoria Avenue, Northland was among Tulsa's earliest large suburban shopping centers. It quickly became North Tulsa's retail destination, anchored by stores including Froug's Department Store, Woolworth's, JCPenney, and TG&Y. Long before enclosed malls became the norm, shoppers flocked here for everything from school clothes to Saturday errands.

The center's fortunes gradually changed over the following decades. Storm damage to Froug's during the 1960s proved to be one setback, while changing shopping habits and shifting demographics further challenged the complex. By around 1990, the shopping center had largely ceased operating as a traditional retail destination. Much of the property eventually found new life through community and nonprofit organizations, but the old roadside sign remained behind, slowly disappearing from public view.

For years, the abandoned marquee became something of an unintended roadside attraction for photographers and urban explorers. Hidden in the brush and showing every year of its age, it stood as a quiet reminder of an era when shopping centers proudly announced themselves with oversized signs designed to catch the attention of passing motorists.

UPDATE: The sign's long fight against the elements finally came to an end. After decades of neglect, the deteriorated structure collapsed sometime before 2022 and was later removed from the site. Although portions of the former shopping center continue to serve the community under new uses, the original Northland Shopping Center marquee is now gone. 06-26