Columbus History: Graceland Shopping Center named after well known madame…I LIVE!!!

I’ve mentioned before that I always look at things around town and wonder what was there before. Everything has a story, everything has a history. When you research you can uncover so many interesting facts. My recent discovery gave me life! I heard about this a few of years ago while watching WOSU’s “Columbus Neighborhoods: Clintonville” episode, and decided to look it up on my own. How could a shopping staple have so much history and scandal behind it? But I loved it. Graceland Shopping Center is still booming to this day on the north side of town and has been since it opened in 1954. At one point Graceland was home to stores and businesses such as: Woolco aka Woolworth, Big Bear, Burlington Coat Factory, a BMV, a movie theatre, Coyle Music, Drug Emporium, Big Lots Furniture, etc. over the years. Today it’s home to: Target, Kroger Marketplace, gyms, restaurants including a new pub called Pat & Gracie’s (named after the original land owners), Chase Bank, as well as many other places that get plenty of business. But…like many other developed pieces of land it has an interesting history as well.

Until his death in 1937, the land where Graceland Shopping Center sits was once owned by Pat Murnan. Pat was described as a very interesting and colorful man who at one time was a railroad worker turned businessman. One of those businesses was a downtown club which made money underground with gambling and serving alcohol during prohibition. Pat also had an interest in horses and horse-racing, so he bought a huge piece of land in Clintonville to build a house and breed race horses. One night at the club, a fight broke out over a gambling debt between two men. Pat intervened and tried to break up the fight and as a result he ended up getting stabbed in the stomach. He survived but would be bothered by this for years resulting in numerous health issues that would linger on until his death. Not long after recovering from his stab wound he returned back to the club where he met and started a romantic relationship with a well-known madame named Grace Backenstoe who ran a downtown brothel (located at Front & Broad) not far from Pat’s club. Soon after he moved Grace into his home. He renamed his horse farm “North High after Grace;” then changed it to “Graceland Stock Farm” to honor his new “wife.” For years there was so much confusion and scandal about whether or not these two were actually married. Pat always referred to Grace as his wife and vice versa. There was also a rumor that Grace was his mistress, but no record of another marriage was ever found. Some believe he paid to have it destroyed. But where was this alleged wife? However, after his death no one could find a marriage license or any proof that he and Grace were legally married. All they had to work off of was Grace’s word and the word of their friends who confirmed the two had “acted” as husband and wife. This wasn’t good enough for Pat’s family who sued Grace for the land and Pat’s personal belongings. She unexpectedly died a couple of years later in 1939 before the estate was settled leaving the fight up to her family. After a lengthy battle, the courts found in favor and sided with Grace. So even if they hadn’t legally been married, there was an established relationship between the two and Grace had made a residence at Graceland with Pat well before he passed away. The land was then turned over to her estate.

 

After the decision was made in favor of Grace’s family they now needed to decide what to do with all of this land. Grace’s family did engage in conversations with Pat’s family on ideas because he was the one who originally purchased the land and dedicated it to Grace. Eventually both families would come to a mutual agreement that this land needed to turn into something useful to the community and not just sit vacant forever. Both families wanted it to honor the memory of both Pat & Grace. However, the final decision would be left to Grace’s estate. By now it was the early 1950’s and they talked to numerous land developers trying to decide what to do with all of this land. Eventually they decided to sell the land to real estate developer Don Casto of the Casto family for $100,000.00. They liked what the Casto family developed a few years prior on the east side of town by building Town & Country Shopping Center which was the first shopping center in the country. Under one condition; they had to keep the name Graceland. Of course the Casto family didn’t have a problem with that and because of this we now have: “Graceland Shopping Center.”

During Graceland Shopping Center’s sixty plus year existence; stores, businesses and restaurants have come and gone but the name and concept still remains the same. It’s been remodeled a few times, but it’s still the same place. Clintonville has grown, the area around Graceland has grown and continues to develop. Who would’ve thought that a location where thousands of people and families visit during the week would have a history involving so much so much scandal behind it? When I found out Graceland was named after Grace Backenstoe…a well known madame in her day…that was everything to me. Goes to show you that you never know what came before and what’s the meaning behind certain names.