Bloomington history
(From Bloomington on the Minnesota, edited by Judith A. Hendricks, 1976)
1800s
1843
- Gideon Pond established Oak Grove Mission. Peter and Louisa Quinn - first European settlers - built cabin near 10th Avenue Circle. Quinns taught farming methods to Dakota Indians. Learn more about the Dakota Indians and Missionaries.
1851
- Territory west of Mississippi, including Bloomington, opened to settlers.
1855
- First public school organized. Met in Harrison home.
1856
- Gideon Pond House built on Minnesota River bluffs.
1858
- Town of Bloomington organizational meeting on May 11. The 25 organizers approved a $100 budget.
- Minnesota became a state.
1859
- First schoolhouse built near France Avenue and Old Shakopee Road.
1860
- 39 votes cast in favor of levying $50 for town expenses and purchase of a road scraper.
1861
- Residents vote to let horse and cattle run at-large during the summer.
1864
- Ground set aside for town cemetery.
1900 - 1939
1900
- Six rural schools with over 200 students in grades 1 - 8.
- Population - 1,085.
- Per capital vehicle travel - 500 miles/year.
1903
- First telephone service installed.
1913
- Elmer Scott obtained a Ford automobile franchise and automobiles began to appear around town.
1915
- Dan Patch rail line extended to downtown Minneapolis for passenger and freight service.
1917
- Voters approved school consolidation.
1918
- Seven one-room rural schools – Gibson (later renamed Palmer), Bush Lake, Bloomington Ferry, Poplar Bridge, Kell, Kimball and Cates – consolidated into School District 142.
- Bloomington Consolidated School was built to receive students, grades 1 - 12, from these seven schools.
- Beginning of secondary education and school bus transportation.
1920
- Population - 1,330.
1930
- Population - 2,645.
1940s
1940
- Population - 3,647.
1945
- School enrollment was 700.
1947
- Bloomington Volunteer Fire Department established with 25 members. Fire Station #1 and equipment cost $24,000.
1949
- School enrollment grew so fast that split schedule adopted for grades 1 and 2.
1950s
1950
- Population - 9,902.
- First elementary school built - Cedarcrest.
1952
- Toro Manufacturing Company moved to Bloomington.
- Chamber of Commerce organized as a booster club.
1953
- Changed from township to village form of government.
- Police Department formed at cost of $2 per taxpayer.
- First traffic signal installed at "very dangerous" intersection of 98th Street and Lyndale Avenue.
1954
- First park land acquired - Bush Lake Beach and Moir Park. Each village parcel assessed $1 for acquisition.
- First edition of the Bloomington Sun; first letter to the editor about drive-in theater.
1955
- Population - 28,934.
- 85 businesses.
1956
- First City Land Use Plan.
- $8.5 million Metropolitan Stadium built. Opened in April to a record crowd of 18,366 for a Triple-A Minneapolis vs. Wichita baseball game.
- Bush Lake Beach constructed.
1957
- Lincoln High School built.
1958
- Village government changed to council-manager form.
- Septic system contaminated wells - central sewer and water system needed costing over $20,000,000.
- Ordinance passed requiring residential subdivisions to make 10 percent park dedication.
- Council adopted policy of encouraging commercial/ industrial development, low-cost housing and shopping centers.
- The Police and Fire Departments began using 24-hour dispatching system.
1959
- Voters approved $8,800,000 waterworks and distribution system bond. City debt jumped to 25 percent of assessed value.
- A dedication ceremony for I-35W was held on April 17 at the intersection of 86th Street and I-35W. It was attended by the mayors of Bloomington, Richfield and Minneapolis.
- The Fire Department had 46 members. A garage was converted into Fire Station #2.
1960s
1960
- Population - 50,498.
- Overall real estate market value - $270 million.
- Typical Bloomington home's market value - $19,000.
- 95 full-time City employees.
- City received All-American City Award.
- Ward's Southtown built.
- I-494 completed from CSAH 18 to airport.
- I-35W completed through city and over the Minnesota River, stopping at MN-13. Local residents called the massive new I-35W bridge "the bridge to nowhere."
- November 8: Voters approved home rule charter on third attempt.
- December 8: The home rule charter, approved by voters a month earlier, went into effect, turning the Village of Bloomington into the City of Bloomington.
1961
- Control Data Corporation, Donaldson, Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland Company moved to Bloomington.
- Chamber hosted breakfast for 160 new teachers and hired first full-time staff member.
- City attempted to annex NSP power plant and Burnsville.
- First Twins game on April 21 (Twins 3, Washington 5).
- First regular season Vikings game on September 17 (Vikings 37, Chicago Bears 13).
1962
- Voters approved "on-sale" liquor licenses.
1963
- Hyland Greens Golf Course opened by private developer Les Boche.
1964
- First half of City Hall constructed.
1965
- Kennedy High School built.
- 200 full-time City employees.
1967
- Met Sports Center built.
- New Fire Station #2 and Fire Station #3 built.
1968
- Normandale Junior College opened with 1,358 students.
- Last elementary school built - Normandale Hills.
1970s
1970
- Population - 81,971.
- 43,000 people employed in city.
- Jefferson High School built.
- Fire Station #4 built.
- Bloomington Ice Garden Rink One built.
- Dwan Golf Course opened on 90 acres of land donated by Dr. Paul Dwan.
1971
- City Council endorsed idea of a Convention Bureau and approved $35,000 funding.
- School enrollment peak of 26,000 students.
- Bloomington Fire Department has 105 men, 4 stations and 13 pieces of equipment.
1972
- Control Data Tower built.
- Reynolds Park water tower built.
1973
- Norwest Financial Center built.
- 2,470 acres of parkland in City.
- Per capita auto travel - 8,000 miles/year.
1974
- Overall real estate market value - $900 million.
- Water treatment plant completed.
- Voters approved $6,300,000 bonds for buildings and parks.
- City Hall expanded.
- Normandale Community College renamed to reflect expanded courses of study.
- Creekside converted from elementary school to senior center.
- After six-hour meeting, Council approved women as firefighters.
- Hyland Greens Golf Course purchased by by the City.
1975
- Typical Bloomington home's market value - $43,700.
- 385 full-time City employees.
- Fire Station #5 built.
- Bloomington Ice Garden's Rink #2 built.
1979
- Fire Station #6 built at a cost of $210,000.
1980s
1980
- Population - 81,831.
- 54,000 people employed in city.
1981
- Last baseball game at Met Stadium (Twins 2, Kansas City 5).
1982
- Lincoln High School closed.
- Normandale Office Park constructed -- first of four office buildings.
1983
- Overall real estate market value rises to $2.8 billion.
- HRA and Council approved Oxboro Redevelopment plan.
- Normandale College expanded community services and continuing education.
- Neighborhood Watch Program begins.
1984
- Trammel Crow built 8500 Tower.
- City's first female firefighter, Ann Majerus.
1985
- Port Authority purchased 86-acre Met Stadium site.
- 460 full-time City employees.
- Elementary enrollment started to grow again.
- BFD has 132 active members and a class 3 fire insurance rating.
1987
- Port Authority approved first site plans for Mall of America.
- 1,800 residential permits (worth $9 million) for additions and remodeling issued.
- First issue of City newsletter, Bloomington News, published in July.
1989
- Overall real estate market value - $4.3 billion.
- 7,850 acres of parkland in city.
- Mall of America groundbreaking.
- 9,300 enrolled at Normandale College.
1990s
1990
- Population - 86,355.
- Median age - 33 years.
- Typical Bloomington home's market value - $100,400.
- 70,000 people employed in Bloomington.
- 11,376 students enrolled in Bloomington schools.
- Referendum to improve Municipal Building fails.
1991
- Ordinance prohibiting sale of tobacco products by vending machines passed.
- TH77 (Cedar Avenue) improvements completed.
- BE-Line neighborhood circulator bus service began.
- With over 100 deer per square mile (recommended 25 per square mile), Deer Management Program launched.
- Average home value in Bloomington is $90,000.
1992
- Mall of America opened.
- Bloomington and Izumi City, Japan, started Sister City Partnership.
1993
- Computerized Pavement Management Program for sealcoating, overlaying and reconstructing streets began.
- South Hennepin Household Hazardous Waste Center opened.
- Police Bicycle Patrol Unit formed.
- Bloomington Ice Garden built Olympic-size rink (#3).
- New Fire Station #1 at 95th Street and Nicollet Avenue.
- Door-to-door Smoke Detector Inspection program started.
1994
- Met Sports Center demolished December 13.
- Recreational Vehicle Ordinance regulating storage and parking of RVs begins.
- Community Enhancement Program began with home improvement activities in two neighborhoods of 1,000 homes.
- Smoke-free Restaurant Recognition Program began.
- 79th/80th Street Ring Route Project started.
- City's Web site went online in March with under 200 files.
1995
- Overall real estate market value - $5.1 billion.
- Time-of-Sale Inspections began.
- First River Rendezvous held at Pond-Dakota Mission Park.
- One third of city's eateries smoke-free.
- County Road 18 over Minnesota River completed.
- City's bond rating upgraded with Moody's from Aa to Aa1, with Standard and Poors from AA to AA+.
- Real estate market value reached $5.18 billion.
1996
- Extension to existing airport runway 4-22 completed.
- Bush Lake Beach facilities rebuilt.
- Underwater World aquarium at Mall of America opened.
- Sign ordinance enacted.
- City of Bloomington Internet site went on-line.
1997
- Gideon Pond House renovation completed.
- Volunteer, 145-person Bloomington Fire Department turned 50 years old.
- Bloomington Ice Garden rinks renovated.
1998
- Population - 88,375.
- 98,300 people employed in Bloomington. Largest employer was Mall of America (13,000 people).
- Galaxy Youth Center opened.
- Eight neighborhoods participated in the Community Enhancement Program.
- Systematic Inspection Program for nuisance complaints expanded to cover entire city.
- Major May 30 storm cost $1.2 million for cleanup with 10,000 truck loads of debris.
- Permits reached record 26,600 for total value of $240 million.
- Citywide Curbside Cleanup Program began, collecting 2,427 tons of trash, 572 yards of brush and 3,643 appliances in the first year.
- Neighborhood Watch Program involved 306 Bloomington neighborhoods.
- Light Rail Transit from Downtown Minneapolis proposed to end at Mall of America.
- City awarded top Aaa bond rating from Moody's.
1999
- 500 full-time City employees, 300-400 seasonal workers.
- Reconstruction of South Parallel Runway at airport completed.
- First Bloomington Clean Water Festival celebrated.
2000s
2000
- Population - 85,172.
- Median age - 40.1 years.
- 106,993 people employed in Bloomington.
- Special $7.2 million bond for a center for the arts approved.
- City received highest bond ratings - AAA from Standard & Poor's; Aaa from Moody's.
- The City's Communications Division became one of the first in the nation to provide online webcasts of City Council and other meetings.
2001
- Overall real estate market value - $7.8 billion.
- Normandale Bandshell opened at Summer Fete on July 3.
- Mall of America Police Station opened.
- Groundbreaking held for new Police/City Hall/Art Center in October.
2002
- Metropolitan Airports Commission and Mall of American swap land to make way for Phase II of Mall development.
- Ring Route streets, an alternate route to I-494, renamed American Boulevard.
- New $8.5 million Public Works facility added 88,340 square feet of vehicle equipment storage, repair garage and office space.
- New $3.6 million Bloomington Family Aquatics Center opened.
- Water Treatment Plant's $14.9 million renovation completed.
- Smith Park renovation completed.
- Mall of America celebrated 10th year with annual sales of $900 million, producing $900,000 in revenue for City.
- After 35 years of white vehicles, Police cars went retro with black-and-white models.
2003
- The 44,000 square-foot Bloomington Civic Plaza completed within its $38 million budget.
- Southwest Metropolitan Joint Public Safety Training Center opened.
- Sister City Organization celebrated 10 years.
- Penn Avenue and I-494 bridge completed.
- City's website tops 2.5 million page views per year, up from 1.9 million the year before.
- Interactive GIS maps added to the website.
2004
- City started String of Pearls redevelopment projects.
- Oxboro Library renovation completed.
- IKEA retailer opened first part of Mall of America Phase II.
- Construction of American Boulevard bridge over I-35W began.
- Hiawatha Light Rail line service opened, offering transportation between Mall of America and downtown Minneapolis.
- 313 neighborhoods participated in National Night Out; Bloomington was 8th best in nation among cities with populations from 50,000 to 99,999.
- Bloomington received triple-A bond rating from Fitch, one of only 20 cities out of 87,000 local governments in the U.S. to achieve triple-A ratings from all three bond rating agencies.
- In the General Election, Bloomington experienced a record turnout of 85.3 percent of the city's registered voters.
2005
- Population - 84,347.
- Overall real estate market value - $10.3 billion. Values doubled in 10 years.
- Typical Bloomington home's market value - $231,200.
- New north/south runway opened in October.
- I-35W and I-494 interchange had highest rate of crashes on I-494/I-694 beltway. (432 crashes since 2002.)
- Lyle Berg Bridge over I-35W, last link in American Boulevard beltway, completed. Costing $12.5 million, the bridge is 387 feet long.
2006
- First phase of McGough's Bloomington Central Station -- Reflections -- completed. Transit-oriented development project encompassed 43 acres.
- New housing built at a rate comparable to fast-growing suburbs with more than 1,000 housing units on drawing board.
- Bloomington's number one industry -- hospitality -- picked up after 9/11 slump. Employed more than 20,000 with 10,000 visitors each day.
- Bush Lake, rated one of the 10 best metro area lakes in a field of 186, earned an A for water quality from the Metropolitan Council.
2007
- Bloomington Farmers Market debuted at the Civic Plaza's east parking lot.
- A redesigned Bloomington website was unveiled in April.
- 1.6-acre urban park at the center of Bloomington Central Station opened in June.
- 2,500 Square-foot mural by Erik Pearson completed on Bloomington Civic Plaza's exterior flyloft.
- 115-Year old Old Town Hall exterior renovation completed.
- Bloomington Ice Garden's 37-year-old original rink number one, which seats 1,800, was reconstructed.
- Severe August 11 storm had Public Works crews picking up and recycling more than 7,000 truckloads of storm-damaged trees and brush.
- Online Program Services was launched, enabling online registration for Parks and Recreation programs.
2008
- Bloomington celebrated its Sesquicentennial with a yearlong series of events.
- Ask the City, online question and request management service, launched in January.
- Public school enrollment - 10,368, with four colleges, 10 elementary schools, three middle schools, two high schools and seven parochial schools.
- City boasted 97 parks, 93 ballfields and 55 playgrounds.
- First annual Global Celebration took place at the Farmers Market, Bloomington Civic Plaza.
2009
- Alternative Transportation Plan implemented, encouraging walking, biking and other alternative modes of transportation.
- Medallion celebrating Bloomington's sesquicentennial included in a Minnesota time capsule to be opened during the state's 200th birthday in 2058.
- E-Subscribe launched, offering residents the opportunity to subscribe to alerts and program updates via email and text messaging.
- Lyndale Avenue bridge reopened to provide additional traffic capacity and safety improvements along Lyndale Avenue and I-494.
- Entrance signs, pedestrian information kiosks and transit stop signs installed in Normandale Lake District.
2010s
2010
- Population - 84,057.
- Median age - 42.7 years.
- 91,500 people employed in Bloomington.
- American Boulevard LRT station opened at 34th Avenue, becoming the 19th station on the Hiawatha LRT line.
- South Loop District (formerly Airport South) planning efforts began. District renamed to help brand the district's confluence of airport, Mall of America, highways and wildlife refuge.
- Bloomington Public Health became lead agency for the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) in Bloomington, Edina and Richfield, to enhance health and wellness.
- Rain gardens installed in public areas, and pervious pavement parking lots added at Harrison Park and the Public Works building, in support of sustainability.
- City added four miles of bike lanes and installed 19 bike racks.
- Website added volunteer management and online job application services. (The latter service was limited at the time to Parks and Recreation jobs.)
- Website received over 12 million page views during the year.
2011
- Bloomington's Facebook page and Twitter account were launched at the start of the year.
- TH 169/I-494 interchange construction began, to improve safety and traffic flow and reduce congestion.
- Developers broke ground at Genesee, a mixed-use retail and residential development on the southeast corner of Penn Avenue and American Boulevard.
- 500-room Radisson Blu construction began. The hotel was the first to be connected to the Mall via skyway.
- do.town initiative began promoting healthy living - a collaborative effort along with Edina, Richfield and Blue Cross Blue Shield MN.
- Bike lanes were added to 86th Street.
- A trail connecting East and West Bush Lake parks along the lake's southeast shore was completed. Nearly three miles of additional trails were reconstructed or paved.
2012
- Bloomington Family Aquatic Center underwent extensive updates, including a new bathhouse and two new water slides.
- Mall of America celebrated its 20th anniversary.
- Online job application service expanded to include all of the City's job announcements.