The Decline of Apache
In the early 1980s, Apache underwent a major renovation, only to have its south end damaged by a tornado on 26 April 1984. Three days after the tornado, a major snowfall covered the area. Since it was spring, the snow quickly melted, flooding twister-damaged areas of the mall. The damage was repaired, and the mall re-opened on 15 November. Some of the original charm was lost, as the multi-colored clerestory windows around the center court had replaced by colorless glass.
In the early 1990s, tenants began leaving the mall in droves. Herberger's opened at Apache in 1987, saving the center from demolition for 17 years. By 2000, the mall was nearly empty, but still open to mall-walkers. Around this time, The Apache was voted as the "best place to dump someone" by the local alternative weekly City Pages.
Apache was scheduled for demolition in April 2004. The final days saw the mall host a "Bulldozer Bash." This was intended to kick off plans for its successor development, Silver Lake Village. However, the majority of the people at the event were not there to celebrate the new shopping center, but came to share Apache memories and mourn the loss of what was once the center of their community.
The Apache Office Park was also demolished around the same time. The Apache Medical Complex, however, still remains.
Coordinates: 45°02′12″N 93°13′48″W / 45.0368000°N 93.2299000°W / 45.0368000; -93.2299000
Read more about this topic: Apache Plaza
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“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The Apache have a legend that the coyote brought them fire and that the bear in his hibernations communes with the spirits of the “overworld” and later imparts the wisdom gained thereby to the medicine men.”
—Administration in the State of Arizona, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)