When Franklin Park Mall's new owner puts its own name on the signs, it will be downplaying a lot of history.
The Franklin Park name has been attached to Toledo's largest and busiest mall for 31 years. The “Franklin” part of the name goes back 63 years, to 1939 - when plans were announced for moving Franklin Ice Cream Co. to a 110-acre farm at Monroe Street and Talmadge Road that also would be home to Franklin Airport.
And the former Franklin Ice Cream Co. was a Toledo institution from its founding in 1922 until it was acquired in 1964. But in a sense, the name goes all the way back to the 18th century - it was borrowed from Benjamin Franklin, statesman, inventor, and philosopher, whose 296th birthday was Thursday.
Sometime in the next year, the mall will carry the Australian owner's brand - Westfield Shoppingtown - and “Franklin Park” will be relegated to small print in the signs, if at all. Westfield America Trust is adding 14 American malls, bringing its total up to 62, in 11 clusters around the United States. Franklin Park is to become part of the northern Ohio cluster, which includes malls in Mansfield, Elyria, Strongsville, and North Olmsted.
“Old names mean nothing anymore,” lamented Bob Nelson, president of Power Retailing, a retail consulting firm in Phoenix. “New rings better than old'' with the younger generation, he said. “Even if it's a hundred-year-old name, people under 30 couldn't care less. And, today, people are used to the `out with the old, and in with the new' [concept].”
A straw poll of store managers and shoppers at Franklin Park yesterday found few who care what the mall is called as long as the variety and quality of stores remain. “The name has been here a long time, and I'm sorry to see it go, but that's progress,” said Jeanne Rudski, manager of the Ann Taylor store. “I don't have a problem with [a name change], but I don't know how likely it is people will call it Westfield. It will still be Franklin Park [by many].”
Michelle Cihlar, manager of a kiosk, Things Remembered (which sells engraved items), said, “I don't think it will really bother me at all,” adding that a new mall name might even bring added business.
There was some disagreement at the Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips counter in the food court. “It doesn't matter to me as long as I still have my job,” remarked Christopher Barnes. But his associate Shaun Thomas doesn't like the idea of a new name. “Franklin Park is a piece of history,” he reasoned.
Ben Savino has been a tenant at the mall since before its grand opening July 22, 1971 - for 20 years, he operated a Hobby Center unit and, for the last 11 years, The Toy Store. “We'd like to see Franklin Park incorporated in the name” even if it is in small type, said Mr. Savino. “The value of the name is pretty powerful”
The late Irving Reynolds thought so too. Mr. Reynolds, a butter salesman, and a financial partner started the Franklin Creamery in 1922 in a converted blacksmith shop on Franklin Avenue. But he said the business, which soon became Franklin Ice Cream Co., was named not for after the street but rather for Ben Franklin, whom he admired.
His business grew rapidly, and by 1939 was ready for a new headquarters, plant, and retail store on the undeveloped farm acreage. His business buildings and the private Franklin Airport were constructed the following year.
Franklin became a favorite of Toledoans who have fond memories of such delicacies as the triple-scoop rainbow cone and hot fudge sundaes. At its peak, Franklin had 350 employees, operated 45 stores in Ohio and Florida, and had ice cream and candy plants in three cities.
Mr. Reynolds held several federal posts in Washington in World War II and later served several terms as an Ohio state representative. In 1952, the airport closed, and he announced plans for a Franklin Park shopping center on the site. That one didn't materialize, but by 1966 the land was in the hands of developers who had a mall in mind.
Franklin Ice Cream was acquired in 1964 by United Dairy Farmers. Mr. Reynolds died in 1968, a year before the Rouse Co. broke ground on Franklin Park Mall. Years later, the Franklin chain broke up, and the only remaining store carrying the name is in Waterville.
Yesterday, Tim and Sue Berry, of Perrysburg, spent part of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day at the mall. “From what I hear about Westfield, we're finally going to get something upscale,” said Mr. Berry. Mrs. Berry joined in: “We need a Lord & Taylor.”
Mr. Berry allowed as how “it probably will always be Franklin Park Mall [to many shoppers]. I'm still one of those people who call [the King Bridge] the Cherry Street Bridge.”
Homer Brickey is The Blade's senior business writer. E-mail him at homerbrickey@theblade.com.
First Published January 22, 2002, 2:27 p.m.