A Community Landmark
The Uptown Shopping Center first welcomed customers in 1949 and was one of the first car-oriented shopping malls constructed in the United States. Although the Manhattan Project officially ended in 1947, the Hanford Site continued producing plutonium throughout the Cold War. The mall exemplifies the type of prosperity that the US Atomic Energy Commission promised to nuclear industry workers during the Cold War. Today, an atomic-age design enlivens the center’s walls.