Fulton Mall was first opened in 1964 as one of America’s first pedestrian malls. Local city officials and businesses had hopes were high for Fulton. However, with the gradual northern movement of the City of Fresno, the mall began to lose its flare. By the late 1980s, many of the mall’s large stores moved to locations in northern Fresno as most notably Gottschalks and other stores moved to new mall locations.
Although the mall was a hub for local sculpture and art, traffic severely diminished over the years. In 2013, the mall received a $15.9M TIGER Grant from the US Department of Transportation to reopen the street to traffic and transform Fulton into a drive-through mall. This groundbreaking change started on March 3, 2016, and was finally completed, Oct. 21, 2017. Come check out downtown!