Malls are a symbol of Philippine postmodern culture for retail, shopping and extravaganza. But did you know that the term mall was not really used to pertain to a huge building with lots of shops back in the day?
In the 1700s, the mall was meant for a place where people played a game called pall-mall. This game was similar to croquet. The pall-mall was played in a rectangular grass lawn with two iron hoops on the ground and players had to move around and get the ball inside those iron hoops. Pall mall was very famous back in the day and even stemmed in the 1600s. The mall was also used for fashionable Londoners to stroll around.
In the 1790s, the term was used to refer to a Grand Avenue between a Capitol and a Potomac, a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Then in the 1800s, the mall was used as a term for public grounds. In the 1900s, the mall was used to describe the McmIllan Plan, or a plan used to improve a city plan specifically Washing DC. The mall was then called the “National Mall”. Back in the day, the plan contained forest parks pockets but were later cleared to create a huge open space which resembles what malls usually have today.
Reference:
“Histories of the National Mall: Why Is This Space Called a ‘Mall’?” Omeka RSS. Accessed November 5, 2020. http://mallhistory.org/explorations/show/whymall.