Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato, Minnesota
City
North Riverfront Drive Commercial District
Nickname(s): Key City
Motto(s): Mankato - Now Playing[1]
Location of the city of Mankato within Blue Earth County in the state of Minnesota
Coordinates: 44°10′N 94°0′W / 44.167°N 94.000°W / 44.167; -94.000Coordinates: 44°10′N 94°0′W / 44.167°N 94.000°W / 44.167; -94.000
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
Counties	Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur
Founded	1852
Government
• Type	City Charter
• Mayor	Eric Anderson
Area[2]
• City	18.26 sq mi (47.29 km2)
• Land	17.91 sq mi (46.39 km2)
• Water	0.35 sq mi (0.91 km2)
Elevation	794 ft (238 m)
Population (2010)[3]
• City	39,309
• Estimate (2016)[4]	41,720
• Density	2,200/sq mi (830/km2)
• Metro	99,134 (US: 355th)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes	56001-56003
Area code(s)	507
FIPS code	27-39878
GNIS feature ID	0647438[5]
Website	www.mankato-mn.gov

Mankato (/mænˈkeɪtoʊ/ man-KAY-toh) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 41,720 according to 2016 US census estimates,^[6] making it the fifth largest city in Minnesota outside the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County,^[7] it is located along a large bend of the Minnesota River at its confluence with the Blue Earth River. Mankato is across the Minnesota River from North Mankato. Mankato and North Mankato have a combined population of nearly 55,000, according to the 2016 census estimates. It completely encompasses the town of Skyline. North of Mankato Regional Airport, a tiny non-contiguous part of the city lies within Le Sueur County. Most of the city is in Blue Earth County.

Mankato is the larger of the two principal cities of the Mankato-North Mankato metropolitan area, which covers Blue Earth and Nicollet counties^[8] and had a combined population of 94,149 at the 2010 census. The 2017 Census estimate is 100,939. Mankato was designated a Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S. Census Bureau in November 2008.^[9]

Mankato was named the 2nd best college town in the United States by Schools.com in 2017.^[10][11]

History

The area was long settled by various cultures of indigenous peoples. After European colonization began on the East Coast, pressure from settlement and other Native American tribes caused various peoples to migrate into the area. By the mid-19th century, four Dakota language–speaking divisions of the Dakota Sioux were the primary indigenous group.

Henry Jackson (1811–1857), one of the pioneers of Mankato, served as the first Justice of the Peace in St. Paul (1843), first Postmaster of St. Paul (1846–49), and a member of the first Territorial Assembly.^[12]

Mankato Township was not settled by European Americans until Parsons King Johnson in February 1852, as part of the 19th-century migration of people from the east across the Midwest. New residents organized the city of Mankato on May 11, 1858. The city was organized by Henry Jackson, Parsons King Johnson, Col. D.A. Robertson, Justus C. Ramsey, and others. A popular story says that the city was supposed to have been named Mahkato, but a typographical error by a clerk established the name as Mankato.^[13] According to Upham, quoting historian Thomas Hughes of Mankato, "The honor of christening the new city was accorded to Col. Robertson. He had taken the name from Nicollet's book, in which the French explorer compared the 'Mahkato" or Blue Earth River, with all its tributaries, to the water nymphs and their uncle in the German legend of Undine.'...No more appropriate name could be given the new city, than that of the noble river at whose mouth it is located."^[14] While it is uncertain that the city was intended to be called Mahkato, the Dakota called the river Makato Osa Watapa (meaning "the river where blue earth is gathered"). The Anglo settlers adapted that as "Blue Earth River".^[14] According to Frederick Webb Hodge, in his "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," Volume 1, page 801, the town was named after the older of the two like-named chiefs of the Mdewakanton division of the Santee Dakota, whose village stood on or near the site of the present town.

Ishtakhaba, also known as Chief Sleepy Eye, of the Sisseton band of Dakota Indians, was said to have directed settlers to this location. He said the site at the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers was well suited to building and river traffic, and yet safe from flooding.

Execution of the 38 Sioux Indians at Mankato Minnesota, December 25, 1862

On December 26, 1862, the US Army carried out the largest mass execution in U.S. history at Mankato following the Dakota War of 1862. Thirty-eight Dakota Native Americans were hanged for their parts in the uprising. A military tribunal had sentenced 303 to death, but President Lincoln reviewed the record and pardoned 265, believing they had been involved in legitimate defense against military forces. Episcopal Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple had urged leniency in the case, but his position was not politically popular in Minnesota, nor was Lincoln's intervention. Two commemorative statues stand on the site of the hangings (now home to the Blue Earth County Library and Reconciliation Park).

Historical marker stating Mankato as having nation's first carp cannery.

In 1880, Mankato ranked fourth in size in the state. The population was 5,500.^[15]

Former Vice President Schuyler Colfax died while traveling in Mankato on January 13, 1885.

Cultural references

Mankato was the basis for Deep Valley in Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy series of children's books and novels. The children/young adult wing of the Blue Earth County Library is named in her honor.

In Sinclair Lewis's 1920 novel Main Street, heroine Carol Milford is a former Mankato resident. Lewis describes Mankato as follows: "In its garden-sheltered streets and aisles of elms is white and green New England reborn", alluding to its many migrants from New England, who brought their culture with them. Lewis wrote a substantial portion of the novel while staying at the J.W. Schmidt House at 315 South Broad Street, as now marked by a small plaque in front of the building.^[16]

In the Little House on the Prairie television series, Mankato is a trading town that the citizens of Walnut Grove visit. It does not appear in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.

The 1972 film The New Land, a sequel to The Emigrants (1971), both by Swedish director Jan Troell, depicts the mass execution of the 38 Dakota Indians at the end of the 1862 Dakota War.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.26 square miles (47.29 km²), of which 17.91 square miles (46.39 km²) is land and 0.35 square miles (0.91 km²) is water.^[2] The Minnesota, Blue Earth, and Le Sueur Rivers all flow through or near the city.

Climate

Mankato has a humid continental climate, type Dfa (hot summer subtype). Winters are cold, with snow cover (continuous most winter seasons) beginning typically between mid-November and mid-December, ending in March most years. However, Mankato often receives less snow than areas to its north and east. For example, Minneapolis, 75 miles northeast of Mankato, averages over 54 inches or 1.37 metres of snow per winter season, compared to Mankato’s seasonal average of 35 inches or 0.89 metres. The coldest month, January, has an average monthly temperature around 14 °F or −10.0 °C. A significant hazard during winter is dangerously low wind-chill temperatures, as Arctic air outbreaks rush into the area from Canada, borne on high winds; this can bring ground blizzard conditions, especially in nearby rural areas. Summers are warm, with occasional but usually brief hot, humid periods, often interspersed with pushes of cooler air from Canada, often preceded by showers and thunderstorms. The hottest month, July, has an average monthly temperature around 73 °F or 22.8 °C. Precipitation falls year round, but falls mostly as snow from December to February, sometimes March, and as showers and thunderstorms during the warmer season, from May to September. Mankato’s average wettest months are from June to August, with frequent thunderstorm activity. Mankato lies on the northern fringe of the central United States’ main tornado belt, with lower risk than in Iowa and Missouri to the south. The highest-risk months for severe thunderstorms and (rarely) tornadoes, are May through July. However, a very unusual early tornado outbreak affected areas within 20 miles of Mankato on March 29, 1998, when an F3 tornado hit St. Peter, 13 miles to Mankato’s north.

Demographics

Politics

Mankato is in Minnesota's 1st congressional district, represented by former Mankato West High School teacher Tim Walz (DFL).^[21] It is in Minnesota Senate district 19, represented by Nick Frentz (DFL), and Minnesota House district 19B, represented by Jack Considine (DFL).

Media

The major daily newspaper in the area is the Mankato Free Press.

Economy

Education

Old Main, Bethany Lutheran College

The Mankato Area Public Schools are consolidated to include the cities of Mankato, North Mankato, Eagle Lake, and Madison Lake. There are ten elementary schools (Franklin, Eagle Lake, Kennedy, Washington, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Monroe, Hoover, Rosa Parks, and Bridges); two middle schools (Dakota Meadows Middle School and Prairie Winds Junior High); and two high schools (Mankato West High School and Mankato East High School).

Mankato has four parochial schools: Loyola Catholic School, Immanuel Lutheran Grade School and High School (K–12), Mount Olive Lutheran School (K–8) and Risen Savior Lutheran School (K–8). There is also a public charter school, Kato Public Charter School. Another educational option available to the community is the alternative school Central High, on Fulton Street.

Mankato is served by the Blue Earth County Library, part of the Traverse des Sioux Library System, which is based in the city.

Major events

• Minnesota State University was home to the Minnesota Vikings summer training camp for 52 years.^[25] The Vikings announced that their training camp would move to Eagan starting in 2018.^[26]

Places of interest

The original Happy Chef Restaurant and corporate offices on U.S. Highway 169

Latrine building built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 in Minneopa State Park

• The Betsy & Tacy Houses
• Blue Earth County Courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
• Federal Courthouse and Post Office (NRHP)
• First National Bank of Mankato (NRHP)
• First Presbyterian Church (NRHP)
• Franklin Rogers Park, home of the Mankato Moondogs of the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league
• Good Counsel Hill
• Happy Chef original restaurant and company headquarters; Mankato also is home to the last 36-foot Happy Chef statue
• The Hubbard House Blue Earth County Historical Society – French Second Empire style built in 1871 (NRHP)
• The Lorin Cray House (NRHP)
• Minneopa State Park is located west of Mankato (two NRHP listings)
• Mount Kato
• The River Hills Mall
• Sibley Park is a city park located along the river in Mankato.
• The Verizon Wireless Center, formerly operated under the names Midwest Wireless Civic Center and Alltel Center, is an arena in downtown Mankato.^[27]

Notable people

Rankings and ratings

• Bizjournals.com, 2006

Mankato/North Mankato was ranked 16th in the nation in a survey of 577 cities nationwide. The survey rates the country's "micropolitan" areas in multiple quality of life criteria.

• America's Promise, 2005

This national youth advocacy group, founded by Gen. Colin Powell and dedicated to making children and youth a priority, named Mankato one of the top 100 communities in the nation for kids. Criteria included the presence of caring adults, transportation for children, presence of places to learn and grow, education opportunities, and opportunities for children to volunteer.

• Rolling Stone College Guide, 2005

Rolling Stone magazine named Mankato/St. Peter one of the top 50 college towns in the country because of its rich and diverse music scene.

• Site Selection Magazine, 2002, 2003 and 2004

For three consecutive years, Mankato/North Mankato ranked in the top 25 small cities nationwide for new and expanded corporate facility projects. The community ranked 16th in 2002(the Minnesota community to make the list), 13th in 2003, and 23rd in 2004.

• Bizdemographics awarded Mankato an "A" in terms of business climate, a sign of excellent economic health. The study considered characteristics such as population growth, per capita income, job growth, and local educational levels.
• Demographics Daily, September, 2000

Mankato and North Mankato placed in the top 50 U.S. cities classified as "dreamtowns". Cities were ranked according to quality of life indicators such as vitality, supply of good jobs, freedom from stress, connection to cultural mainstream, support for schools, access to health care, low cost of living, and small town character.

• The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities, January, 1998

The City of Mankato was named the 14th most livable micropolitan in America and number one in Minnesota.

• In 2004 Mankato was rated as the funniest city in America by Hallmark Cards.

Transportation

Public transportation in Mankato is provided by the Mankato Transit System. The city is served by Mankato Regional Airport which has no commercial flights. Under MnDOT's 2015 State Rail Plan, Mankato is listed as a Tier 1 Corridor for regional rail service from Minneapolis and/or St. Paul. U.S. Highways 14 and 169 and Minnesota State Highways 22 and 60 are four of the main routes in Mankato.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mankato, Minnesota.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mankato, Minnesota.

• City of Mankato official website
• Mankato Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Mankato Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Mankato, Minnesota at Curlie (based on DMOZ)