Edina’s Story
Contrary to popular belief, Edina’s history did not begin with Southdale Center—the nation’s first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall, which opened in 1956. While Southdale brought national attention to Edina, the community’s roots reach nearly a century earlier.
Edina first grew around a small red mill along Minnehaha Creek, where agriculture, industry, and community life took shape in the mid-19th century. Over time, the area evolved from a rural mill town into a farming community, and later into one of Minnesota’s earliest suburban cities.
By the mid-20th century, that rapid transformation brought progress—but also loss. Farms disappeared beneath new residential developments. Historic buildings fell into disrepair. The lived memories of Edina’s earliest residents were at risk of fading as the generation that had known horse-and-buggy travel entered old age.
