Historical Flashback: South Park Shops
This image of the shopping center was taken in the 1960s and shows the original McDonald’s.
This photo shows the 1995 groundbreaking for the expansion of the center. Finnell’s parents, Bill and Mary Murdoch, daughter Louise Finnell, Finnell, and her uncle, James Murdoch, are pictured. Before the expansion, the center stopped at the current Rite Aid, which you can see in the picture. The Murdochs added 25,000 square feet and renovated the whole shopping center to match the expansion.
Molly Murdoch Finnell in her mother’s arms in 1959 just as construction was beginning for South Park Shops.
By Photos courtesy Molly Murdoch Finnell
On page 18, Eleanor Bailey wrote about how the South Park Shops got their moniker, despite being in Bethel Park. She also uncovered a lot of history about the development. Molly Murdoch Finnell, who manages the plaza that her father, Bill Murdoch, developed back in the late 1950s. Finnell was also kind enough to share historical photos from her family’s archives, so that you can take a trip down Memory Lane, too.