The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-02-01
WE WELCOME THEM.
MankatO as a Home for Retired
Farmers.
Has Advantages for These that Cannot
be Found in the Villages
or Smaller Cities.

| Mankato is getting to be favorite
place of residence for retired farmers.
Scores of farmers in this vicinity have
cultivated the soil for years and ac-
cumulated handsome bank accounts.
Many of them reach a period when
they are glad to rent their farms and
move to some city or village and take
| the remainder of their lives easier.
| Mankato offers inducements to such
residents as cannot be found in any
! other place in Southern Minnesota.
When a farmer retires from his farm
he generally likes to buy or build a
home in town. If he comes to Man
kato he can buy at reasonable figures
| and can build more cheaply than else
| where, for much of the material used
in building is produced here. If he
! wants to sell, he can readily find a
purchaser and get his money out of
his place, for the demand for houses
! in Mankato is unceasing.
On the other hand, if the farmer
goes to one of the villages or smaller
cities he does not have to pay so much
for lot, as there is little demand for
them there. If he builds, he has to
pay enough more for material to have
bought a good lot in Mankato When
he wants to sell, he cannot do so, for
the same lack of demand that made
his lot come cheaper will make it i'm
possible for him to dispose of his pro-
perty ex cept at great sacrifice. We
have in mind Sc veral instances where
holders of property in villages have
been trying for years to sell and can
not find purchasers.
Besides investing their money where
they can get it out readily without
sacrifice, retired farmers find living
cheaper in Mankato than elsewhere.
for numerous stores give competition.
Fruit can always be had fresh and in
it's season, and stocks of all kinds are
fresh. Entertainments are in great
variety and better quality, whether at
the theatre, lecture course or church.
The pulpits are filled with able minis
ters. In city there is always more
going on than in the village-conven-
tions, picnics, races, circus perform
ances, etc. Then again there is the
splendid corps of physicians and nurses
in Mankato, the hospitals, etc., the
lodges of all the secret orders, and
more than all else the splendid educa-
tional facilities.
If the retired farmer wants to secure
cheap lot and have plenty of room,
he can buy on the outskirts of the
city, and keep his horse or have
telephone that connects him with all
the stores doctors offices, city and
county offices, etc., and the houses of
many of his nieghobrs and friends. If
his wife wants to take boarders, he can
secure a house near the center of the
city and board and lodge some of the
hundreds of students who come from
abroad. or some of the business and
professional men and women who have
no homes of their own. If he keeps a
COW or two, he can find ready sale f OR
the milk among his neighbors.
1t will be urged on the part of the
villages that taxes are little greater
in Mankato than elsewhere, but as a
matter of fact they are lighter here
than in some of the villages of this
county. Taxes are the lowest in the
townships, and much higher in the
villages, as was shown by the tax rate
recently published by the Free Press.
The difference of a few cents or a
dollar or two in taxes will not be con-
sidered.by any Blue Earth county far
mer who is about to retire, when he
weighs the advantages of a residence
in Mankato with that in a village.
What does he care if he has to pay two
dollars more taxes on house and lot
in Mankato that he can get his money
out of any time, than he would pay
on house and lot in village where
he could hardly sell it at any price?
Several hundred of the population of
Mankato is composed of retired far
mers and their families, and they are
among the best of our citizens. The
city will welcome all others of this
class who may decide to locate here,
and they can be assured that they will
make no mistake in choosing this city
as the place for passing the years that
they plan to devote to well earned
rest. Here they will have every COM
fort and luxury of great city-hand-
some streets, beautiful parks. splendid
water, sewerage, gas and electric
lights, daily papers, telephones, excel
lent fire protection, low insurance
rates, etc. At the same time they
will be living in quiet and orderly
town, connected with every part of the
county by railroads and telephones,
and surrounded by farming COM
munity.
The Free Press has been asked to
state the case for the benefit of any
who may be contemplating retiring
from their farms, because it is a mat
ter that has not been touched upon by
any OF the papers of the city. 1t has
endoaVOred TO do so imnartiaI1v and