Walnut St.

At one time the survival and growth of a town relied on the service that railroads provided.

Look through the parking ramp and  see the old Mankato Railroad Station, which has been adaptively reused to house several businesses, including the Mankato Area Chamber and Visitor�s Bureau.  It could have easily been torn down, but was saved.  It  serves as a valuable landmark to our past, while helping Mankato define its future.

On the left, just beyond the parking ramp, is 115 South Front Street, the four story Martin Building.  Behind you on the right at 105 Walnut Street is the nine-story Walnut Towers Apartments.  Both buildings are about the same size but note how modern materials and technology (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) have influenced the amount of space required between floors to more than double the space available in the Walnut Tower.

Now you see the Holiday Inn front of you.  Note the almost �blank stare� the building has.  The lack of windows and a strong entry deny a strong statement to guests.  Originally this was designed as a nine story tower sitting in alignment with �Old Towne�. Unfortunately, this was changed, and it was �turned on its side� to become the way it looks today.
Go into the lobby which is considered a public passage to Front Street.  Note the lack of locks on the doors.  Also how hard it is to walk around this building because of sidewalks.

As you enter, look at the ceilings.  Why are they so low?  Now, proceed and they explode above you in greater space.

Exit and carefully cross Main St. to the LIBRARY.

Hickory St.

Turn around. 
Note the sense of entry the new City Hall structure provides and the sense of presence it brings to the community.  Note some of the landscaping effects that add nature to the setting and soften the mass of brick and stone.
Look to your right at two of the only remaining historic buildings along what was once Front street.  Graif�s Clothing is located in a building that was once both a bank and a prestigious office building.   Look at the design details on the outside of the building.  Go inside, look at what was once the bank lobby, the  columns and the coffered ceilings.
Ahead and across Hickory Street is the Ellerbe Building.  This was once the First National Bank building until they relocated.  This is an example of Prairie School architecture at the early turn of the century.  It reflects Louis Sullivan in many details of its design.  It was actually designed by Ellerbe and Round Brothers Architecture Firm in the Twin Cities, but the influence of Sullivan is undeniable.  Compare this with some of his work in nearby Winona and Owatonna, if you have the chance.

Fortunately, this building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980�s, and therefore was spared from the demolition and reconstruction around it.  In 1994, it was incorporated into the Midwest Wireless Civic Center (formerly the Mankato Civic Center).

The Civic Center is a fine example of modern design incorporated into what was the downtown. This facility can change from a basketball, hockey, to a stage floor in a matter of hours.   It is expected to make its first $400 profit in 2000.

Walk through the Front Street lobby of the Civic Center, then straight ahead into the outside mall extension leading to the Holiday Inn. In another era Mankato was host to the Saulpaugh Hotel.

Cherry and Front Sts.

Stay right and walk across the S. Front Mall Plaza.

On the one side is Mankato Place shown by the �ENTRY� by the door.  Once this was Front Street--the main commercial street of Mankato.  Until about 1975, this was a working street lined with big stores and small shops, apartments and offices above them.  Under the Urban Renewal Program, what was once the downtown was demolished to make way for �new� mega-block development.

Nearly five blocks of the community's commercial core  along Front St. was flattened.  Most of the businesses closed or relocated to the shopping centers on the �Hilltop� or to other towns far removed from Mankato.  

However, the new development never came.  Today, the only block of commercial space essentially somewhat intact is the block of stores inside the Mall.   The mall was built in response to the major shopping centers that lured Sears and others from the downtown.  The major retail anchors that remained in the mall were Penney�s and Brett�s.  The mall itself did quite well in-spite of the competition for nearly fifteen years.  Later with the development of River Hills Mall, Penney�s relocated there.  Brett�s department store, the only other retail anchor, closed its doors forever in 1992.

Since that time much of the mall has stood vacant with the primary business occupants being BW3 and the Y Barbershop.  In an effort to reuse the mall space, more of the structure was removed and a new City Hall and other government offices were located there.  This gave the mall a sense of place again within the community.

The remainder of the mall is a good example of a unique re-design that lends itself to many kinds of current and future uses.  Note the orientation of the corridor system which is sinuous rather than perfectly linear, the sky lights which permit natural light to penetrate into the interior, little nooks and crannies that serve as conversation and social gathering spots, the central atrium which  is well adapted for many kinds of performances, presentations and displays, the multiple levels with access by both elevator and escalator and the presence of theaters, bars and restaurants which generate activity both during normal business hours and throughout the evening as well.

Exit out the North end of the mall through the Intergovernmental Center to Hickory St.

Cherry and Second Sts.

Walking towards Cherry Street:

Ahead of you on the right is the Mankato Post Office and Federal Office building.  What is it constructed of?  What does it say about the natural resources of this area?  An addition was made some time in the twenties.  Can you tell which is the original and which is the addition. (Ignore the loading docks on the back).

 On the corner is the Multi-Church Center.  How does this fit into the context of the street?  How do you know it�s a church?  Yes there is a spire on top of the roof.  Could the roof be painted with red stripes and an image of the Colonel be put on top(as a weather vane) and then turn the whole thing into a KFC?  Have you ever known of another facility that served multiple congregations?  (St. Peter Lutheran-Catholic Church?)

Behind you on the left is the Chatham Square Apartments, once the Inn Towne Apartments. This structure was originally a motel built in the 1950�s.  It was unsuccessful because the rooms were too small relative to modern hotel designs.  In the 1980�s it was converted into apartments rather than being torn down.  Another good example of adaptive reuse.

On the opposite other corners across the street are the Earl Johnson Furniture stores.  The red brick building with the limestone accents and green awnings was once a tractor repair and machinery sales operation.  The long low one-story building was once the Greyhound Bus Depot for Mankato. 
Now turn left onto Cherry and notice the bus stop across from Bagel Brothers.  You have now entered what was once the �Downtown Commercial Core".

Warren and Second Sts.

Look at the Florist Shop.  It is obviously an addition to the older home behind it.  Look closely and explore the Italianate house behind it.  Do you believe this is what should happen to old homes?  Or is this just an attempt by a business to find a way into a residential neighborhood?  What would you feel like if you lived next door?  What could you legally do to stop this from happening?  (By the way, don�t blame the florist, it was changed like this long before they moved in).

Warren and Second Streets

Look across the street at the six story dark brick Durham apartment building.  How would you feel if you were the person living in and owning the house at the very end of the corner?

Today you can see all the way across Broad Street.  What is there now?  Mostly parking lots.  Should these churches, apartments, and other businesses be allowed use up this much land for parking?  What else could be done?

On the corner of Warren and Second Street is the Cray Mansion which now is the home of the YWCA.  What does this house tell you about The Cray's?  Is it appropriate for the YWCA to have this house?  

Now look up Warren at the Hubbard House, the beautiful white house on the corner of Broad St.  Have you ever been in it?  If you haven�t you should definitely take a tour.  The house is furnished and completely done in the period of the turn of the century (1900, not 2000), and it will give you a chance to share in history.  What kind of roof structure does the building have?  Is this important to our community�this building?

Across from the YWCA on the corner of 600 South Second is the Johnson and Moonan Law Office.  Notice what a beautifulexample of Queen Anne it is.  But  look at what an impact filling in the old porch with limestone facing has had on the appearance of the house. 
What would you have done?
Look between the YWCA and the little stone church.  This is the last street in town that we know of that has wood pavers under the asphalt overlay.  Do you have any thoughts on what could be done here so that the past and present could come together?
526 S. Second is now KSA Architects, but was
once a very fashionable home.  Notice the porch here has also been filled in but contrast this infill with the one next door at Johnson and Moonan.  Large old homes are often too large to accommodate a modern family with children for a variety of reasons but they still inform us of the time period in which they were built and what life was like then.  Therefore it may be very justifiable to have professionals use these buildings in order to keep the character of the community intact. 

526 S. Second Street

South Second and Liberty Sts.

720 South Second St.  You have just passed a large-massed building with a low portico or walkway running across the front.  What is this building?  How do you know?  Besides the signs, what tells you that it is a church?  This is a design common to suburbia, but does it fit in �Old Mankato�?
Now look back across the street at the building on the corner of Grove Street (729 South Second Street).  Is that a church? No, but it was.  Today it is home to Two Fish Recording Studios and a private residence.  It is being adaptively reused.  How does it fit in the streetscape?  Should it be torn down?

Continue along Second past Liberty to Warren Street.

 720 S. Second Street

Lincoln and S. Second Sts.

823 South Second St. is the white painted brick, Italianate style home from just before the turn of the century.
817 South Second Street. The Newbury apartment building is from the late teens, and an example of  Elizabethan Half-Timber Revival Style.  
811 South Second St. is a red brick Queen Anne style home from the 1880�s.  Notice how all the homes blend together into a rather pleasant streetscape that is common to the neighborhood.
Now note the apartment on the corner of Grove Street at 107.  Compare and contrast this apartment with the building you just passed.  How does this fit in the neighborhood?  What could have been done to improve it so that it fits better into the fabric of the area?  
Continue walking on South Second Street to Liberty Street.