Area Dad Can’t Wait to Tell Kids What Short Pump Was Like Before the Mall

HENRICO, Va. — Self-proclaimed Short Pump historian Miles Goode has made it his mission to educate his family about what the area was like before the mall, Short Pump Town Center, was built.

Goode, a Mechanicsville resident and native, used to spend a lot of time with his friends out in Short Pump before businesses, restaurants, and shopping centers began developing. “I remember coming out here with my old man when I was a kid,” Goode reminisced. “He taught me how to drive stick shift on the back roads. Me and my friends would go hunting in those woods. Then when we were done, we’d drink water from the pump.”

Now Goode is eager to regale his children with tales of what Short Pump was like prior to 2003. “That was when the big mall arrived, and the whole place went haywire from there,” he claimed.

He has already tried to explain to his children what the Short Pump area used to be like, but, at one and three years old, they have not been able to grasp the reality of his statements.

“They just don’t get it. They just stare at me when I tell stories about the old Short Pump. It’s frustrating because this is something that’s so important to me,” Goode explained.

At press time, Goode was found showing his children a photo album of the Short Pump area as he knew it while crying.