Early Cultures
Timeline: The History of Bloomington Since 1750
There is evidence that the city of Bloomington has been occupied by humans for
up to 14,000 years. The first inhabitants of the area were nomads who entered the
area as the glaciers retreated. They used primitive stone weapons to hunt prey
that included mammoth, mastodon and giant bison. During this period the River
Warren, formed from melting glaciers, scoured out the Minnesota River Valley.
It is so huge that its banks stretched from the bluffs of Bloomington to the
bluffs of Burnsville. Between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago the ancient Indian tribe
known as the Mound Builders founded the first permanent settlement in Bloomington
in the area where 9 Mile Creek enters the Minnesota River. Between 1,000 and 300
years ago the "ancient village" area was occupied by the Oneota people
from whom the Dakota are descended. From then until the early 1600s the Iowa tribe
lived here. Around this time the Ojibway Indians started pushing the Dakota tribes
south out of their traditional homes in the Northern Forests. Dakotas in turn
pushed the Iowas south into, you guessed it, Iowa. Our time line begins during
this period.
- 1780: Dakota Chief Penasha's village at the mouth of Nine Mile Creek has 400 lodges
and a population of approximately 1900 people.
- 1834: Gideon and Samuel Pond travel to Fort Snelling by steamboat. They begin teaching
Euro-American farming to Chief Cloud Man's village by
Bde Maka Ska (formerly named Lake Calhoun) in present-day Minneapolis and create the
"Pond-Dakota" alphabet.
- 1836-38: Gideon Pond and Dr. Thomas S. Williamson
translate the Bible into Dakota.
- 1839-42: Chief Cloud Man moves his Dakota village from Bde Maka Ska (Lake Maka Ska)
to the Oak Grove area of Bloomington after skirmishes with the Ojibway.
- 1839-42: Gideon and Samuel move to a house near
Fort Snelling and serve as itinerant missionaries and government-paid
farming instructors to the Dakota.
- 1843: Peter Quinn becomes the first European settler in Bloomington,
building a cabin near the extension of present day Portland Avenue and the
Minnesota River bluffs.
- 1843-52: Gideon and Samuel establish the Oak Grove Mission near Cloud Man's
relocated village in Bloomington.
- 1849: The Bloomington Ferry is established to link Bloomington and Shakopee.
- 1851: The Dakota cede large areas of Minnesota, including Bloomington, to the
US Government in the Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota.
- 1852: Bloomington is opened for white settlement.
- 1856: Gideon Pond built his brick home, which still stands in
the current Pond-Dakota Mission Park in Bloomington.
- 1858: The Town of Bloomington is incorporated the same year Minnesota became
a state.
- 1889: The first Bloomington Ferry Bridge is built across the Minnesota River.
- 1892: The first Bloomington town hall is built (now the restored, historic Bloomington Old Town Hall).
- 1902-03: The first telephone service is established in Bloomington.
- 1956: Metropolitan Stadium is built in Bloomington.
- 1960: Bloomington became a city.
- 1960: I-35W bridge into Burnsville opens.
- 1967: The Met Center is built in Bloomington.
- 1985: 1-494 is completed.
- 1985: Metropolitan Stadium is demolished.
- 1992: The Mall of America opens.
Indigenous Period
Before accounts were written, Native American people inhabited the land soon
to be known as Minnesota.
Their burial mounds indicate a long period of occupation.
Later Indian peoples, traveling on foot, horse, and by travois from season to
season, lived out their years within separate tribal units sustained by
hunting the wild game - animals, birds and fish - and by harvesting fruits and
seeds they planted for food, clothing and even their lodges or tepees.
They interacted with other tribes, either in war with enemies or as friends
in summer games on the prairie.
Their heritage was passed down through an oral tradition as they huddled around
their fires during the long, cold winters.
Before the white man came
Bloomington was called I-cha-hta-ka (to touch, or where the water touches the
banks) by the
Dakota people.
Much of this area was regarded as sacred ground by the Indians.
It was referred to as Ta-ku-wa-kan Ti-pi, dwelling place of the gods.
At least three different Native American tribes made
their homes in Bloomington. The Iowa were here until they were
pushed south by the Dakota (Sioux), who were driven south and west by the
Anishinabe (Ojibwa/ Chippewa).
There were other ancient tribes who populated the area, but from the late
sixteenth century on, the Dakota people inhabited the land.
Evidence of the ancient inhabitants can be seen with the many Indian burial
mounds which dot the bluffs along the
Minnesota River.
In 1805 the
Dakotas signed the first land treaty of soon-to-be
Minnesota with Zebulon Pike.
In 1820 the cornerstone was laid for the construction of
Fort Snelling.
Before Bloomington was established, the area was prairie and wooded bluffs
above the river which the Indians called the Mi-ni-so-ta. It was land that
was near Fort Snelling.
White Settlement
Peter Quinn, an Irish immigrant, was the first recorded white settler, building
his cabin here in 1842. He was followed closely by the Pond brothers, who
established the Oak Grove Mission in 1843. Thirteen years later in 1856, the
Reverend Gideon Pond built his brick home, which still stands on about 105th
Street and Third Avenue South.
When Minnesota became a territory in 1849, Gideon Pond and Martin McLeod were
among its first legislators. With the signing of the treaty of 1851, the
Indian peoples were sent to live on reservations, dismantling their villages. In
1854 the land was surveyed by the government for official non-Indian settlement
and preemption. A year later, the first public school session was held.
Bloomington incorporated as a town on May 11, 1858, the same day that
Minnesota became a state. The name "Bloomington" was chosen by a group
of settlers who had recently arrived from Bloomington, Illinois.
After World War II
The years after World War II hit Bloomington like a whirlwind. There didn't
ever seem to be enough of the two- or three- bedroom rambler homes, paved
streets, or schools to serve all the people who wanted to live here. Master
planning strategies solved many a crisis, keeping needed services such as
water and sewer lines in balance with the city's growth and its desire
to maintain and achieve and enviable lifestyle with its many parks and lakes.
Two major highways, I-35W and I-494, slashed through the community, flanked by
further commercial and industrial growth. Bloomington proudly accepted its
All-American City status in 1961. The people lived mainly in single family
dwellings and avidly enjoyed being entertained by a new phenomena, television.
They took Sunday drives to view the country living they could no longer claim as
their own now that they had survived the population explosion. Bloomington
numbered over 50,000 people.
The boom years continued for the period from 1961 to 1978. More schools were
built until a peak enrollment of 26,000 students was reached in 1971.
Normandale Community College. constructed in 1968, extended educational opportunities
further. Civic organizations developed and thrived, libraries were built for a
prosperous active community which now constructed ever larger homes. Commercial and
industrial growth kept pace with a population approaching 82,000.
Sports fans flocked to the games held at Metropolitan Stadium and the Met Sports Center, both built in the former farmlands of East Bloomington. Bloomington was the home of the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team, the Minnesota Vikings National Football League entry, and the Minnesota Kicks professional soccer team, as well as three errant tries at professional basketball.
In the 1980s and 1990s,
the city matured and aged. Declining school enrollment required solutions
for the use of now-vacant school buildings. In 1981 the major sports teams
began an exodus from Bloomington with the closing and subsequent demolition
of Metropolitan Stadium. The city was no longer the home of professional
baseball, football and soccer. The National Hockey League team, the Minnesota
North Stars, remained in the city until 1993 when they moved to Dallas, Texas.
The demise of major league sports in the city made way for the development of the
largest shopping center in the U.S., the Mall of America, which
is built on the vacated sports complex land.
The shopping and entertainment complex with its popular theme park
is a destination that has earned a world-wide reputation.
With maturity also came the ability to branch out. High-rise buildings raised the skyline at the same time that the wildlife refuges
husbanded the river bluffs and valley below.
The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1976.
The refuge's headquarters and Bloomington Visitor Center is located at
the Long Meadow Lake refuge unit at 3815 American Blvd. East.
It features an eight thousand square foot exhibit space
The arts developed broadly to enhance a high quality of living, including a
symphony orchestra, the Medalist Band, an art center and gallery, and choral
groups. An historical museum honors the
community's past as it looks toward the future and development of the Gideon
Pond Farmstead and Heritage Center, later renamed Pond Dakota Mission Park.
Bloomington's History Clock Tower, an imposing fifty-three foot structure
located at the intersection of Lyndale Avenue Old Shakopee Road,
reminds one and all of the proud heritage of the city.
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