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It was an innovative idea in its day - a 200 store indoor shopping center 35 miles outside of Chicago with a 31-ride amusement park in the middle. Unfortunately, once you throw in costly delays, waning attendance, lackluster store selection, competition, and a trapeze death, that's when trouble starts.

This is the story of Old Chicago, billed at the time as the "world's first enclosed combination theme park and shopping center," which in five years went from the next big thing to bust.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN MAY, 2020. This version contains some changes.

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