Route 1 before proliferation of shopping centers

This aerial photograph from the early 1990s shows Midway Shopping Center surrounded by open fields.

Over the next decade, nearly all the land in the Midway area would be developed as the proliferation of outlet shopping began in the Cape Region.

What is now Tanger Outlets Surfside broke ground in 1994 and opened in 1995 in the square farm field and the property to the bottom and right.

At one time, there were plans to expand the shopping center all the way to Postal Lane in the upper left, but they fell through. Eventually in 1998, Pelican Square received approval to build on that land, which is now occupied by Staples, Acme, Petco and other stores. 

Midway Shopping Center was built in 1954. Historic aerial photographs show it was much smaller when it was built. It expanded over the years.

The Derrickson family built the single-screen Midway Palace in 1965, eventually growing to seven screens. In the fall of 1998, it was expanded and rebranded as the Movies at Midway. The Derrickson family also operated a drive-in theater behind Midway Shopping Center for many years.