Mankato Historic Districts

Historic Towns

What you will find: The North Front Street Commercial Historic District consists of 17 late 19th and early 20th century brick commercial buildings in the thriving Old Town neighborhood. The northern edge of the business center is in the midst of a revival with many new local shops, boutiques and eateries. Unfortunately, downtown Mankato was severely altered by Urban Renewal efforts in the late 1960s, leaving few historic buildings remaining.

The Lincoln Park Historic Neighborhood District boasts 177 contributing properties, making this one of the largest historic neighborhood districts in the U.S. The neighborhood was built up by the middle class and the captains of industry. This neighborhood was known as the “silk stocking” district at the turn of the 20th Century.

There are 10 additional properties in Mankato listed on the National Register. These include:

• Blue Earth County Courthouse, built in 1889, French and Italian Renaissance
• Lorin Cray House, 1897, Queen Anne
• Federal Courthouse and Post Office, 1896, Richardsonian Romanesque
• First National Bank of Mankato, 1913, Prairie School
• First Presbyterian Church, 1896, Richardsonian Romanesque
• Rensselaer D. Hubbard House, 1871, French Second Empire
• William Irving Home, 1873, French Second Empire
• Mankato Public Library and Reading Room (Carnegie Library), 1902, Renaissance Revival
• Mankato Union Depot, 1896
• Old Main, Mankato State Teachers College, 1924, Jacobean Revival

Services at this site: Yes

Mankato is located at the bend of the Minnesota River as well as the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers. The rivers played an important role in the community being founded in 1852. Today, Mankato is home to two historic districts and 204 total properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

The name of Mankato came from the Dakota word for the color–both blue and green in Dakota–of the earth found nearby, which they used for body ornament and other purposes. The site was the mouth of the river of the same name

 

Things to Do: Historic Town