Southdale Mall: A Mall for America
Process Paper
My topic is Southdale Mall. I chose this topic when my teacher showed our class a list of ideas because I thought learning about the first shopping mall would be interesting. I have been to Southdale before and it is near my grandparents' homes where both of my parents grew up, which makes it more of a personal story for me. Originally I was going to do my project with a partner and we were going to do the Mall of America, but when I looked into it, I realized that Southdale Mall is more of a turning point then the Mall of America.
I used a variety of resources to gather information about Southdale. To start my research, I found an article from the Mintex System that was helpful because I used it for research and also the reference list gave me a list of other good articles to find. I picked this first article up at the St Cloud Public Library. With the help of the college intern who helped us with our research, I selected articles that were related to my topic off of the Minnesota Historical Society's website. When our class went to the Minnesota Historical Society's library in St Paul, I took notes on the articles I requested and also found a couple of other sources that day. At the Edina Historical Society I read a lot of primary source magazine and newspaper articles and there was an exhibit called, "Growing Up in Edina" which had photos and personal stories about Southdale. We visited with an Edina resident who talked about riding his bike with his friends at the site where Southdale was built. I didn't use his story in my report, but it was fun to hear about his memories from that time. I found some information from periodicals and industry publications from an internet search. Lastly, I looked at reference lists at the end of articles and found more related information.
I decided to choose a website because you can use more words than an exhibit board. I also wanted to challenge myself with the technology of creating a website. I chose this website format because the sparkling lights remind me of the sparkling lights in shopping malls. I also wanted to use old pictures of Southdale from when it was built so people could see what it looked like in its early years. I played with the color choices for the background behind the photos and decided black was the best because it made the photos stand out.
My topic fits the NHD theme because Southdale Mall changed the way people shop in the United States. Before malls, people mostly shopped in downtown stores that were open to the street and people had to walk outside to go from store to store. Southdale's design was very different because it was indoor and climate-controlled. Southdale was very successful and it became the model for the modern shopping mall.
495 words
Click here to go to Bibliography
I decided to choose a website because you can use more words than an exhibit board. I also wanted to challenge myself with the technology of creating a website. I chose this website format because the sparkling lights remind me of the sparkling lights in shopping malls. I also wanted to use old pictures of Southdale from when it was built so people could see what it looked like in its early years. I played with the color choices for the background behind the photos and decided black was the best because it made the photos stand out.
My topic fits the NHD theme because Southdale Mall changed the way people shop in the United States. Before malls, people mostly shopped in downtown stores that were open to the street and people had to walk outside to go from store to store. Southdale's design was very different because it was indoor and climate-controlled. Southdale was very successful and it became the model for the modern shopping mall.
495 words
Click here to go to Bibliography