Dayton's

Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high-end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it was regionally known as a high-quality shopping destination, Dayton's is best remembered for starting the discount shopping chain Target. The company was also instrumental in the history of shopping malls, opening the first indoor shopping mall in the United States—Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956. In 1969, Dayton's merged with Hudson's, a Michigan department store chain to form the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. In 1978, Dayton Hudson merged with Mervyn's Department Stores. The Target division of the company eventually grew so large that in 2000 the corporation was renamed Target Corporation. Dayton-Hudson had acquired Chicago-based Marshall Field's in 1990 and Target rebranded Dayton's stores as Marshall Field's stores in 2001 in an effort to focus more on discount retailing. In 2004, Marshall Field's was purchased by May Department Stores and May subsequently merged in 2005 with Macy's, turning the remaining Marshall Field's stores into Macy's department stores. For most of its history, Dayton's was owned and operated by the Dayton family. The company's mark on Minnesota remains with three Twin Cities shopping malls created by Dayton's: Southdale, Rosedale, and Ridgedale, all still standing.