April Friday History: Clover Shopping Center

By Matt Goff, Kraus-Anderson Historian/Archivist

Thanks to the Mall of America, the city of Bloomington is internationally famous as a shopping destination. So, Clover Shopping Center, on the corner of Lyndale and 98th, is a sort of working historic site. Developed, built and continually managed since 1957 by Kraus-Anderson, Clover is Bloomington’s first ever shopping center.

The Legend of Oxboro Heath

There is a legend that this corner of Bloomington has a deep retail history; the Oxborough family, coming from Canada, set up a trading post and established “Oxboro Heath,” a precursor to the city of Bloomington.

Although the Oxborough family did own several farms in the area, the idea that this family operated a “trading post” is, to be generous, misleading. The Oxboroughs were not fur traders.

Oxboro Heath was the name of a 20th century real estate development surrounding Oxboro Lake, east of Lyndale. This was a railroad suburb serviced by the Dan Patch Electric Line.

The Oxboro post office was once located on Lyndale, just south of 98th Street, but since this post office was established in 1922, I suspect it had everything to do with the Oxboro Heath real estate development and little to do with the Oxborough family.

The Name Clover

I am sometimes asked how Clover Shopping Center got its name. I never have a good answer to this question, which is all the more unfortunate since Kraus-Anderson has excellent records about Clover.

The first meeting of the Clover Building Construction Corp, for instance, took place on May 11 1956 to consider “the purchase, for $85,000, of property located at Old Shakopee Road and Lyndale Avenue South.”

This document makes it clear; the name Clover was associated with this shopping center from the beginning. But the question remains today, why is it called Clover?