Midland History: What Was at the Intersection of Midland Drive and Illinois?

Anybody that is new to town, here is the history of the intersection of Midland Drive and Illinois Ave.

Where the Goodwill and School on the northeast corner are located, the building originally was built for a Safeway grocery store which later became a Furr's grocery store when Furr's bought out all of the Safeway locations in this area in the late 80s. After the closing of Furr's that is when they split it in half and turned it into the school and Goodwill.

The adjoining shopping center was also built at the same time as the Safeway on what used to be a vacant lot. But the addition of the section of the shopping center that used to house Chinese Kitchen was built many years after the original shopping center was built.

At the southeast corner of the intersection was a Phillips 66 gas station that has now become a restaurant and also a parking place for food trucks. Behind that was Powell Brothers Grocery where Metro Equipment and Back in the Day Cafe are now.

On the southwest corner of the intersection was always a 7-Eleven till just a couple of years ago when it changed to a Quick Track.

The northwest corner for years used to be an Exxon station until Kent Companies bought the property to demolish the old Exxon gas station and build a new Kent Kwik.

Next to that has always been an AT&T Exchange building and next to that was a Taco Villa originally which is now Midland Donuts.

There for you, new residents of Midland, is a quick history of the intersection of Midland Drive and Illinois as it was during my lifetime the past 50ish years.