"I would argue that it's the most important mall ever built."
~Jim Farrell, Saint Olaf College History professor
Thesis Statement
In Edina, Minnesota in 1956, a mall was built and America would never be the same. After years of people going downtown to shop in stores that were open to the street, Victor Gruen, the architect, decided to change all that. He designed Southdale Mall and it was the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall. This was a turning point because Southdale changed the way people shopped and it became the model for the modern shopping mall.