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A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
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Built by pioneering retail developer Don Monroe Casto, Sr., the Bank Block was dedicated in 1928 in what is now Grandview Heights, a suburb of Columbus.
Casto, once described as "the man who changed the shopping habits of the free world," was a dominant figure in retail commercial development in the Midwest for much of the 20th Century.
Considered one of the earliest regional shopping centers in the United States, the Bank Block innovatively featured 350 free parking spaces to accommodate the growing number of automobile-owning suburbanites. The Bank Block's first tenants included several competing national grocers, a bank, stationer, barber shop, and pharmacy.
It remains the nucleus of Grandview's commercial district today.
Casto, once described as "the man who changed the shopping habits of the free world," was a dominant figure in retail commercial development in the Midwest for much of the 20th Century.
Considered one of the earliest regional shopping centers in the United States, the Bank Block innovatively featured 350 free parking spaces to accommodate the growing number of automobile-owning suburbanites. The Bank Block's first tenants included several competing national grocers, a bank, stationer, barber shop, and pharmacy.
It remains the nucleus of Grandview's commercial district today.
May 31, 2012