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19921776 Club

Bloomington opens the biggest mall in the country, on the site of the Twins' old ballpark

330 stores and 10,000 employees open at once; a stadium seat marks the exact spot of a Harmon Killebrew home run.

Metropolitan Stadium sat empty for seven years after the Vikings and Twins left for the Metrodome. Its grandstands were demolished in 1985. On August 11, 1992, Triple Five Group and its partners opened the Mall of America on that same ground in Bloomington, Minnesota, with 330 stores, four anchor department stores and an indoor amusement park under one roof. At least 150,000 people came through the doors on opening day alone. It was, at 5.6 million square feet, the largest shopping mall in the United States…

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More from August 11
1972

The last American ground combat unit pulls out of South Vietnam

Air crews and advisers stay behind, but the infantry that once numbered over half a million is gone.
1984

Reagan, mic hot before a soundcheck, jokes he'll outlaw Russia and start bombing in five minutes

The line wasn't meant for air, but by August 13 wire services had it anyway.
1934

Handcuffed and under guard, the first inmates step onto Alcatraz

Sixty federal agents and marshals escorted 137 men from Leavenworth to an island the government called escape-proof.
19421776 Club
The system borrows its timing from a player piano; the Navy calls it too bulky to use.
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More from Modern America
1995

Discovery lifts off at last; woodpecker damage and a mid-count signal flag had held it back

Six hours after launch, the crew deploys TDRS-G, the last first-generation tracking satellite, raised toward geostationary orbit by the Inertial Upper Stage.
2013

Cassini turns its camera toward Earth; Saturn's shadow makes it possible

Imaging leader Carolyn Porco positioned the spacecraft to catch the sun eclipsed by Saturn, putting Earth in the frame 1.44 billion kilometers away, and millions look up and wave.
1997

Old Ironsides sails again; Cronkite takes the helm off Marblehead

The 1797 frigate moves under her own canvas for the first time in 116 years, on sails paid for through a national campaign of citizen and student donations.
1999

Collins becomes first woman to command a shuttle; Columbia loses an engine on the way up

A loose pin ruptures coolant tubes during ascent, but Columbia still reaches orbit to release the heaviest payload NASA had ever flown.
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