This is an excerpt from The Monitor Weekly episode that will accompany our series, coming soon: 'Christa's Legacy: Concord's pioneer woman, the world's teacher.'

To read a transcript of Bob Hohler's 1986 column memorializing Christa McAuliffe, and to stay up-to-date on 'Christa's Legacy,' visit https://www.concordmonitor.com/christas-legacy/

This except was produced by Rebeca Pereira and includes music from contra-sigma through www.freesound.org.

At the Monitor, whenever we have questions about the mechanics of virtually any process, we turn to the Granite Geek, David Brooks, our science and technology writer. It turns out Dave has been writing about the logistics of Christmas, dispelling skeptics’ doubts about Saint Nick’s existence, for a while.

Between 1970 and 2015, the number of malls in North America grew over twice as fast as the population. As anchor stores began shuttering locations and customers turned to malls less and less, these behemoth shopping centers also had no option but to close.

In Concord, one location exemplifies this decline more than others: the Steeplegate Mall on Loudon Road.

Fifteen years ago, the Steeplegate Mall was the largest taxpayer in the city. Its assessed value approached $72 million — today, it is assessed at a fraction of that, only $12.6 million.

What happened?

City reporter Catherine McLaughlin and investigative reporter Sruthi Gopalakrishnan join us on this episode of the Monitor weekly to discuss.

The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack with additional music from Lo-Fi Beat by YellowTree on FreeSound.org.mp3

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The Monitor Weekly is a Concord Monitor project produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Alexander Rapp.