The Lycoming Mall has seen many changes in its 41-year history, but the Hadany Arch has pretty much remained the same.

Set on 242 acres of what was once farmland in Muncy Township, the project was first proposed in 1975. Originally it was announced as a 674,000-square-foot, 80-store, enclosed shopping mall by Crown-American Corp. of Johnstown with 3,000 parking spaces and a supermarket.

It was to be anchored by Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Hess’s Inc., of Allentown and Gee Bee, a division of Glosser Brothers of Johnstown.

The local facility became the second largest of Crown-American’s 15 shopping malls in Pennsylvania and Maryland and was intended by the developers to serve a 10-county area.

While the first store — Hess’s — opened on March 1, 1978, and others on July 15, 1978, it would be near the end of the year that a major feature and talking point would be dedicated.

That was the Hadany Arch that continues to straddle the mall road today.

Dedicated in November 1978, the 55-foot-wide steel arch rises 100 feet into the air at the entrance to the mall near Interstate 180.

The arch, the creation of Israeli sculptor Israel Hadany, was constructed of a type of steel that would change over about 18 months from an original rusty color to today’s darker brown.

The arch was commissioned by Phillip Berman, chairman of the board of Hess’s department stores, his wife Dr. Muriel Berman, vice chairman of the board, and by Crown American.

The sheets of steel were fabricated by Bethlehem Steel Corp. The arch took 21 months to fabricate and assemble. The supports for the 140-ton structure were sunk 25 feet into the ground.

Stores have come and gone since the mall first opened, but the arch has remained the same, other than a change in color.

The mall had a crowded opening on July 15, 1978, with Gee Bee and 40 other shops welcoming customers that day. Business was brisk. State police and Muncy borough police were on hand to direct and control the heavy traffic.

At the opening of the Sears, Roebuck and Co. two weeks later, Frank Pasquerilla, then president of Crown American, predicted the stores in the mall would increase to 100, and Henry C. Parsons, director of development for the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, said the mall would create 1,200 new jobs for the area.

The county’s largest shopping center would continue to grow, at least for a time. It underwent a $4.7 million expansion in 1985 that added 115,800 square feet and a Bon-Ton, and then J. C. Penney moved from downtown Williamsport to the mall in the late 1980s.

But the mall’s original shopping heydey would not last forever. The original anchor stores, potted plants and water fountains are long gone, along with the original owner.

In 2016, the mall was purchased by Kohan Retail Investment Group. Today, it hosts 59 stores, according to the mall’s website. Mall management declined to comment on the future of the mall for this story.