Talk:Northland Center

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A fact from Northland Center appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 4 April 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Northland Center opened in 1954 and was the United States' first suburban shopping mall?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/April.

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The first?[edit]

Surely this is not the first suburban shopping mall. Shoppers World, Framingham opened on October 4, 1951. It was an open, circular mall anchored by a major urban retailer with strips of other stores and parking surrounding it in a suburban location far outside Boston. And I think it too wasn't the first... --216.49.153.98 11:29, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Detroit Free Press article linked in the reference section states that Northland was the first. Jtmichcock 12:06, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Although I should probably place this comment at the end of the thread, Northland's claim is an indoor shopping mall anchored by one or more department stores. This is closest to what is meant by a modern shopping mall, and current boasts of size depend on this definition. MMetro 02:30, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The priority question is complex. There were clearly a number of previous suburban shopping malls [1], but a case can often be made for being "first" by adding enough qualifying adjectives. A reference to a local news source is not the best, because these media are easily influenced by the public relations departments of their largest advertisers. --Blainster 21:01, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not original research. The Detroit Free Press article states that Northland is the first and I have yet to see any authority cited to justify changing that. It is not enough to baldly assert that a newspaper that's been around for over 150 years is "easily influenced" without giving any references. If there are contradictory authorities, cite those. None of us are in a position to blithely dismiss original research sources like the Free Press or equivalent media. Jtmichcock 23:01, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you overlooked the university study I cited. Finding conflicting sources is not unusual, and in this case the academic source is the one to be preferred. The university study lists several earlier examples. Also, the Free Press story didn't call it the first "suburban shopping mall", it called it the first "regional shopping center", not quite the same. And when you do revert, please don't wipe out other edits that have nothing to do with the reason for reversion. --Blainster 10:28, 5 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When Northland opened, it was not an indoor shopping mall. It was a set of stores set in an open air promenade/garden. The change to closure was huge and IMO not an improvement.

As to the content dispute, WP:Verifiability, not WP:Truth controls. If the Detroit Free Press says it, it is verified. End of story. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 13:56, 20 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]