From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 27, 1987:

Owners and supporters of the Raintree Montessori School, 4545 W. Clinton Parkway, were protesting the plans of Warmack and Co., Fort Smith, Ark., to build a mall on a 152-acre site surrounding their school. About 175 parents and advocates had signed a letter urging the Douglas County Planning Commission and the Douglas County Commission not to rezone the area from agricultural to commercial. “Many of the parents have chosen the school because of its pastoral setting,” said Lleanna McReynolds, who ran the school with her husband Keith. “Although we know that there will eventually be houses out there and it might even be zoned for multi-family, I don’t think any parents who enrolled their children out there thought they would be next to a shopping mall.” The planning commission was scheduled to meet Sept. 2 to consider rezoning on the Warmack site as well as two other proposed suburban mall sites. A Cleveland mall development firm wanted to build on a 61.4-acre site on the southeast corner of Iowa Street and Armstrong Road, while another group with local representation was interested in a 55-acre site on the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 40 and Wakarusa Drive.