Sure, plenty of folks have heard of the Mall of America, but fewer people know that one Minnesota shopping mall was the first - and is the oldest - indoor mall in America. At the time it opened, Southdale Center, in Edina, was the first fully-enclosed, climate-controlled shopping center in the United States - i.e., the first indoor mall in the U.S. It innovated shopping in Minnesota in around the world!

Southdale Center is a modern Minnesota shopping mall in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina.

It has all the amenities you'd expect in a modern mall, such as anchor stores and a large multiplex movie theater.

More than 60 years ago, however, Southdale was nothing more than a glint in the eyes of eager suburban developers.

When did Southdale mall open? On October 8, 1956, Southdale Center opened to much fanfare and retail fervor.

The first indoor shopping center of its kind, more than 40,000 people showed up on opening day.

Dayton's, Minnesota's premier department store chain, played a major role in developing Southdale. When the mall opened, Dayton's, along with Donaldson's and a Red Owl supermarket, was one of the mall's first anchor stores.

Today, Dayton's is best known for establishing Target stores, the first of which it opened in Roseville in 1962. The Target division eventually grew so big that it absorbed Dayton's, and after buying Marshall Field's, rebranded both chains under the Marshall Field's name.

A few years later, Target sold its Marshall Field's unit to Macy's.

Macy's is still a Southdale anchor store in the old Dayton's location.

When it opened, Southdale Center had 800,000 square feet over three levels.

After several expansions and updates, today the mall contains almost 1.3 million square feet of leasable space.

The original mall included dining options for its customers, like the Sidewalk Cafe, set up in Southdale's atrium.

During its heyday, Southdale leaned hard into the food court concept.

Now, Southdale offers many sit-down dining options with their own exterior entrances.

Rather than feeding shoppers, today, restaurants and entertainment are the draw, and retailers hope diners will want to shop after eating.

Of Minnesota's many firsts, the first indoor mall has had one of the greatest impacts on American society, especially during the late 20th century.  And ever since, for better or worse, our state has been at the forefront of "mall culture," as it were, with many malls in Minnesota of note. In the early 1990s, Mall of America, once the largest in North America, opened to much fanfare in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, only a few miles from Southdale. Mall of America is still the largest mall in the United States. Further, Kevin Smith's cult classic film Mallrats, was filmed at Eden Prairie Center, another mall in the Twin Cities' southern suburbs that's not far from Southdale. Eden Prairie Center recently went viral as the home of "Mount Eden Prairie," a massive snow pile in its parking lot after the record-setting winter of 2022-23. So, there you have it from the first indoor mall in the United States to Mall of America to Mount Eden Prairie, recent history and culture in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (at least the Twin Cities metro) has been inextricably intertwined with that of the shopping mall.

Did you know about Southdale Center's groundbreaking history as the first indoor mall in the U.S.? Are there other Minnesota firsts that may have had a bigger impact outside the state? Scotch tape? Post-It Notes? Let us know in the comments.