The Beatles' Hotel Party with Girls Broken Up in MN (1965 Interview)
The Beatles staged their second concert tour of the United States (with one date in Canada) in the late summer of 1965. At the peak of American Beatlemania, they played a mixture of outdoor stadiums and indoor arenas, with two historic stops on this venture.
After this tour's conclusion, the Beatles, who had been touring, recording and promoting non-stop for three years, took a six-week break before reconvening in mid-October to record the album Rubber Soul.
Bloomington is the fifth largest city, as of 2016 estimates, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Hennepin County on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River. Bloomington lies 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Minneapolis.[6] As of the 2010 census the city's population was 82,893,[7] and in 2016 the estimated population was 85,319.[4]
Established as a post–World War II housing boom suburb connected to the urban street grid of Minneapolis and serviced by two major freeways, Interstate 35W and Interstate 494, Bloomington's residential areas include upper-tier households in the western Bush Lake area and traditional middle-class families in its rows of single-family homes in the central to eastern portions. Large-scale commercial development is concentrated along the Interstate 494 corridor. Besides an extensive city park system, with over 1,000 square feet (93 m2) of parkland per capita,[8] Bloomington is also home to Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the west and Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in the southeast.
Bloomington has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, due to the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, the Mall of America[9] , and the only IKEA in Minnesota. The headquarters of Ceridian, Donaldson Company, HealthPartners and Toro, and major operations of Express Scripts, Seagate Technologies and Wells Fargo Bank are also based in the city.
The city was named after Bloomington, Illinois.[10]
The 1960s saw accelerated school and business growth throughout the city. On November 8, 1960, Bloomington officially became a city as voters approved the city's organizing document, the City Charter. The city charter provides for a Council-Manager form of government in which the city council exercises the legislative power of the city and determines all city policies (see City of Bloomington Government). In 1965, a second high school was built, John F. Kennedy High School and Bloomington High School was renamed Abraham Lincoln High School. In 1967, a second and third official fire station were approved and built to more effectively combat fires in the increasingly large city. In 1968, Normandale State Junior College opened with an initial enrollment of 1,358 students. In 1974, it changed to its present name, Normandale Community College, to reflect expanded courses of study.
From 1961 to 1981, the city of Bloomington was home to all the major sports teams of Minnesota. In 1961, after the completion of Metropolitan Stadium in 1956, both the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings began regular-season play. Although Metropolitan Stadium was originally built for the American Association Minneapolis Millers, a minor league baseball team, Metropolitan stadium was renovated and expanded for Major League Baseball and Football. The first Twins game was held on April 21 (Washington 5, Twins 3) and the first Vikings game was held on September 17 (Vikings 37, Chicago Bears 13). On August 21, 1965, The Beatles played Metropolitan Stadium, their only stop ever in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area. In 1967, with the expansion of the National Hockey League, the Metropolitan Sports Center was built near the site of the Metropolitan Stadium and the Minnesota North Stars began play later that year.
A number of new city buildings were constructed in the 1970s. In 1970, Thomas Jefferson High School, Bloomington Ice Garden rink one, and a fourth fire station were built. In 1971, school enrollment peaked with 26,000 students, and the fire department had grown to a force of 105 men. (In 1974, after a six-hour city council meeting, women were allowed to join the Bloomington Fire Department, but the city's first female firefighter, Ann Majerus Meyer, would not join the department until 1984; she retired in 2013). In 1975 a second rink was added to the Bloomington Ice Garden and a fifth fire station built, and subsequently a sixth in 1979.