The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-01-16
A STRANGERS VIEWS.
What Impression a Visitor Gains
OF IankatO, and How he
Sets us out in Print.
A Flatt.ring, Though Deserved, Com
pliment.

Mank&to, with its four depots, its
schools, churches and halls, and its
population of nearly ten thousand
inhabitants, is a source of infinite won
der and amazement to stranger who
enters it precincts for the first time.
After ,eading in the great city papers
such glowing accounts of the town with
its beautiful situation and commercial
facilities one Is apt to take into consid-
Grafton that. it is only newspaper
work." and therefore if about to visit
the place in question, must bear the fact
in mind
With other towns and with such des-
criptions, the visitors in nine cases out
of ten are doomed to disappointment;
for instead of finding the long-looked-
for paradise, they have generally, to use
cocknsyed expression Jumped out
of the FIRING pan into the fire." With all
these previous facts and a small amount
ofprejudice firmly fixed in my mind, /
departed from st. Paul on the Omaha
train and after an easy journey of three
hours, woke up to find myself at the
depot OF what seemed to me to be
city of considerable size. However,
feeling very tired and sleepy, 1 put of
my inspection and mental criticism OF
the "Eiysium of Southern Minnesota"
till the following morning. After finish
ing my breakfast, which by the way,
would certainly not have been looked
upon by disfavor by old Delmonico
himself, 1 proceeded to view with q
feeling akin to amazement, the whole
length-or more truthfully speaking, 30
much as could be seen-of Front Street.
Mankato, speaking literally, cannot
be called city in every sense OF the
word; vet to my mind it presented on
the first morning of my visit, far more
city like appearance, than many other
places of larger population. One cannot
look up and down the street with its
magnificent business blocks and street
cars running to and fro, and simply feel
that they are standing in the main
street of an ordinary western town. By
no means. The city to strangers eve,
appears merely in its infancy, and if
the civic authorities can place In 30
commanding position, building so
replete in every respect as the City Hall 4,
it is but fair to admit, that the city will
in the course of few years occupy lea
ding and highly complimentary position
with the cities of North Western Amer
lea The manufacturing portion of the
city is very wide spread, and rapidly IN
creasing, and every known article Of
commerce seems to find It's way into
the stores of the retail business men.
Now a stranger entering town for the
first time has two very fixed ideas In
his head, i. e. the commercial quarter
of the city and the residential property.
With regard to the latter, 1t would be
hard even to imagine town more beau
tifully situated for residences than
Mankato.
The many charming houses that are
to be found in the outskirts of the city,
amply justifies the fact, that Mankato
will be the place for those to build who
love beautiful and scenic surroundings.
The press is well represented by the
many leading papers and periodicals,
that are published and printed in the
city. The morals ofthe immoral people
are kept IN perfect order by the many
religious denominations and thorough
Democratic organization. Perhaps on
reading this, one may exclaim; "Why;
other cities of like sze are just as good. :"
IF such one will 90 ali through the
other cities of the state, | am sure he
will return with the firm opinion that to
compare other cities of like size with
Mankato, would be as absurd as to COM
pare the slums of New York with the
aristocratic quarter OF Boston. In both
cases neither the one nor the other ad-
NIT of comparison. ID. L. ..