One of the first shopping malls in the United States — Lake View Store in Morgan Park

Cory Fechner Apr 27, 2009 3 Comments
Lake View Store - Morgan Park - Duluth, MN

Lake View Store – Morgan Park – Duluth, MN

Minnesota has had a long history of firsts for shopping malls. It must be the long, cold winters keeping us on the forefront of the indoor shopping experience. Duluth’s Morgan Park Lake View Store being noted as one of the first indoor malls, Southdale Mall in Edina the first post-war enclosed mall and, of course, the Mall of America the United States’ largest and most visited mall in the world.

The Lake View Store in Morgan Park was built in 1915 and had two levels and a basement. There was a butcher shop, clothing, hardware, furniture, a pharmacy and a department store with groceries, and a general store. The top floor had a bank, dentist office, barber shop, hair salon, hat shop, billiard room and auditorium. The basement had an ice-making plant which made eight tons of ice per day for the mall and for Morgan Park residents and a shoe store. Wiki has more info.

Images courtesy of Wolfsonian – Florida International University

morgan-park xc200402302 xc200402304 xc200402305 xc2004023 Lake View Store - Morgan Park - Duluth, MN

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3 Comments

inquiring mind

about 16 years ago 

How do you find your pictures?  I am looking for some of the area I live in on the East side near where the roundhouse was for Endion station.  Is there a good place to look up here?

hmmm

about 16 years ago 

Too bad such a great building with rich history is now mostly vacant due to poor upkeep. Sad.

Rhode Island Boy

about 14 years ago 

The world's first enclosed mall is the Westminster Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island, built in 1828.

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