Towers Plaza

After years of planning, Towers Shopping Plaza was finally ready for its grand opening on June 25, 1965. The owners and the tenants wanted opening day to go off with a bang—and it did, but not in the way they had hoped. At 4:30 AM, the shopping plaza was rocked by one of the largest explosions in Melrose history.

 

Towers Plaza had been the dream of Melrose developer Joseph G. Sawtelle. It was the second phase of a two-part revitalization plan for the area bounded by Albion, Melrose, Main, and the Parkway. The first phase had been the construction of the Melrose Towers, a 159-unit condominium development that to this day is one of the largest residential projects ever executed in the city. The second phase would be the retail space of Towers Plaza. Both the name and the three-pronged clock tower at its southeast corner were an homage to the adjacent residential towers. The plaza would replace an existing First National grocery store and create new space for it and six other shops.

 

All that went up in smoke just before dawn on the 25th. Had the blast occurred just a few hours later, dozens of people might have been killed. There were no deaths or injuries reported, but the sound of the explosion could be heard up to six miles away, and it frightened much of the city awake. Windows in neighboring buildings were shattered, and debris fell across the city from the 5 & 10 cent store, which had been at the center of the explosion. At this time of heightened Cold War tensions, some even thought the city might be under attack.

 

Two months after the blast, an investigation revealed that the explosion had been caused by an improperly installed gas line. Sawtelle rebuilt, and the plaza we know today occupies the same footprint. In fact, while businesses have come and gone, you can still find a grocery store, an ice cream parlor, a pharmacy, and a barber shop, just as on opening day in 1965. Anton’s Cleaners, one of the original tenants, survived opening day and is still in the building, proving that no matter what else changes, dry-cleaning will always be with us.