The presence of large shopping centers in Minnesota is well known.

Indeed, the Mall of America in Bloomington is the largest mall in America and boasts 40 million visitors a year, more than the combined populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Canada, according to its website.

However, the Mall of America is far from being Minnesota’s first venture into the arena of vast, indoor shopping centers.

On October 8, 1956, Southdale Center opened in Edina. It was the first indoor shopping center in the U.S.

Designed by Victor Gruen, an Austrian immigrant, Southdale was originally built to be much more than a shopping mall. Gruen envisioned the center to be a gathering place, similar to the arcades of European cities. He hoped his creation would become “the town square that has been lost since the coming of the automobile. It should become the center of this civilization.”

The 800,000-square-foot complex drew 75,000 visitors on its first day and provided services, too, including a post office and even a small zoo.

While Southdale was a financial success, it didn’t become the civic center Gruen had envisioned, and he became a harsh critic of consumerist mall culture. Gruen returned to Vienna in his later years and passed away in 1980.

Minnesota Historical Society staff. This article first appeared in the October 2014 issue of Minnesota Good Age.