Bloomington, Minnesota

Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/694 Beltway. The population was 89,987 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's fourth-largest city.

Bloomington was established as a post–World War II housing boom suburb connected to Minneapolis's urban street grid, and is serviced by four major freeways: Interstate 35W running north-south through the approximate middle of the city, Minnesota State Highway 77, also signed as Cedar Avenue, running north-south near the eastern end of the city, U.S. Highway 169, running north-south along the western boundary of the city, and Interstate 494 running east-west at the northern border. Minnesota State Highway 100 also terminates within city limits at Interstate 494. Large-scale commercial development is concentrated along the I-494 corridor. Besides an extensive city park system, with over 1,000 square feet (93 m²) of parkland per capita, Bloomington is also home to Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the west and Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in the southeast.

Bloomington has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, due in part to the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, the Mall of America, which is located inside of the city. The mall has over 500 stores and contains an amusement park. The headquarters of Dayforce, Donaldson Company, Great Clips, Dairy Queen, HealthPartners, and Toro, and major operations of Pearson, General Dynamics, Seagate Technologies, and Express Scripts are also based in the city.

The city was named after Bloomington, Illinois.

In 1839, with renewed conflict with the Ojibwe nation, Chief Cloud Man relocated his band of the Mdewakanton Sioux from Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis to an area named Oak Grove in southern Bloomington, close to present-day Portland Avenue. In 1843, Peter and Louisa Quinn, the first European settlers to live in Bloomington, built a cabin along the Minnesota River in the area. The government had sent them to teach the Native Americans European-derived farming methods. Gideon Hollister Pond, a missionary who had been following and recording the Dakota language from Cloud Man's band, relocated later that year, establishing Oak Grove Mission, his log cabin. Pond and his family held church services and taught the Dakota school subjects and Western farming. Passage across the Minnesota River in Bloomington came in 1849 when William Chambers and Joseph Dean opened the Bloomington Ferry. It remained operational until 1889, when the Bloomington Ferry Bridge was built.

After the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, the territory west of the Mississippi River, including Bloomington, was opened to settlers. A group of pioneers settled in Bloomington, including the Goodrich, Whalon, and Ames families. They named the area Bloomington after the city they were from, Bloomington, Illinois. Most early jobs were in farming, blacksmithing, and flour milling. The Oxborough family, who came from Canada, built a trading center on Lyndale Avenue and named it Oxboro Heath.^{[citation needed]} Today, the Clover Shopping Center rests near the old trading center site and the nearby Oxboro Clinic is named after them. The Baliff family opened a grocery and general store at what is today Penn Avenue and Old Shakopee Road, and Hector Chadwick, after moving to the settlement, opened a blacksmith shop near the Bloomington Ferry. In 1855, the first public school for all children was opened in Miss Harrison's house, with the first school, Gibson House, built in 1859. On May 11, 1858, the day Minnesota was admitted into the union and officially became a state, 25 residents incorporated the Town of Bloomington. By 1880, the population had grown to 820. In 1892, the first town hall was built at Penn and Old Shakopee Road. By then, the closest Dakota to Minneapolis lived at the residence of Gideon Pond.

After 1900, the population surpassed 1,000 and Bloomington began to transform into a city. With rising population came conflict among citizens over social issues. Among the major issues during this period were parents' unwillingness to consolidate the individual schools into a single, larger school, and fear of mounting taxes. By 1900, there were six rural schools spread throughout the territory with over 200 students enrolled in grades first through eighth. In 1917, the school consolidation issue was settled when voters approved the consolidation. A year later, secondary education and school bus transportation began throughout the city. Telephone service and automobiles appeared.

From 1940 to 1960, the city's population increased to nine times that of the population at the turn of the century. During the 1940s, the city's development vision was low-cost, low-density housing, each with its own well and septic system. The rapid population growth was due in part to the post-World War II boom and subsequent birth of the baby boomer generation. In 1947, the first fire station was constructed and equipped at a cost of $24,000 and the Bloomington Volunteer Fire Department was established with 25 members.