The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-11-01
RELICS OF YEARS PAST.
OLD MEMORIES RECALLED BY
ANCIENT CORNER STONE
Things Revealed When Tin.Box
Taken From Union Build.
ing Was Opened

uneartned yesterday afternoon whel
the sealed tin box, which was placed
in the corner stone of the Unior
school building at the time it was
laid, was opened. The work Of tear.
ing down the building has beer
awarded to Eric 'Carlstrom and a:
soon as the building was torn down
as far as the corner stone the DO,
of relics was discovered and taken
in charge by W. E.. Palmer of the
school board Mr.. Palmer intends te
place, the relics, together. with a pic
ture of the new school building in his
jewelry store window and they will
be of interest to everyone, particu-
larly those citizens whose memor-
was a mere ramsbackle village
Among the chief relics in the box
are copies of The Mankato Weekly
Record, of which The Mankato Re-
view is now the successor and of
The Mankato Weekly Union, of
winch The Free Press is successor.
There are the two publications of
which. the village boasted at that
time. On the margin of The Week
ly Record is written: J. G.. Wise.
editor and proprietor; J. w. Mitchell,
foreman and E. W.. Craven, printer.
The copy was of Volume 7. No. 50
OF the paper and was printed on Sat-
urday, June 80, 1866 Among the
interesting items in the paper was
an account of the fact that the state
the week before had bought a farm
at st. Peter which is now the site Of
the insane hospital. At that time it
was only possible that such an insti-
tuition might be built there at a fu-
ture date
w. B. Griswold was editor and
proprietor of The Mankato Union
The copy of this paper which had
been placed in the box was Volume
3, No. So and was published on july
o, 1876. In this paper a lengthy ar
roe was devoted to the press COM
ments from England. praising the
united States for keeping out of
the European dispute that was then
raging with the Prussian states. The
article was in curious contrast with
present events and the part these
same Prussian states are playing in
world events. Several of the adver.
usements in this issue offered goods
at prices the same as before the
war;, meaning the Civil war which
had just ended.
Names of Village Trustees.
Names of the trustees of the "viI-
lage OF Mankato" were written on a
piece of paper which had been
placed in the box. The town dads
at that time were: Issac Marks
president: Jacob Pfaff; F. H. Waite
image attorney; G. A. Clarke. treas
orer: r ID. b. Porter, clerk; and N.
Z. Conner, marshal.
Chlef among the interesting ey.
hDlts were the pictures of various
buildings and establishments in the
city at that time A birdseye view of
Mankato showed struggling village
scattered along the bank of the Min
hesota with thick wooded country
running back in every direction. From
appearances the picture must have
Deen taken with the camera stand
Ing On the hill somewhere in tbc
nelghborhood of where the high
scnool is now located A long stretch
or woods is shown from the camera
10 the first street or house. The
picture, was taken by Harleo & Ma
SON, photographers.
A large, photograph was in the box
OF the Wlckersham e Co. drug store
which "old timers" remember as hav-
ing been located somewhere near the
present site of the Patterson whole.
sale grocery house. The J. J. Shan.
but storage and commission bouse
was also shown, on one of the pho.
tos. Shaubut street was named aft
er TINS merchant of former DAYS. A
NUMBER OF men We're shown grouped
ABOUT the storage house.
Three buildings are shown groun.
eu together On another picture. Thew
are of the Mankato Union office
two story, ramshackle building which
stood where the State bank is now
located. Next to it was the vii.
rage book store and beyond that the
stage office-the depot of that day
Christensen and Bros. store is
shown on another photo. This was
dry goods establishment and stood
on the site of Richards block. Other
early building shown were the old
Mankato house, the city drug store
and the Minnesota Mutual Insurance
company office.
One Building Still Remains.
The only building shown in the pic
lures which still remains standing is
that in which the John j. Lamm drug
store is now located. This was at
That time quite the finest building in
town. Mankato at that time boasted
no line city hall such as graces the
Guy at the present time. The old
structure which was condemned sew
eral years ago had not at that time
peen constructed and the town dads
met in a rickety two story affair
which greatly resembled a barn save
-tnat the front ran up square like a
store front. In the picture of this
place group of men are shown in
'front.' of the building such as were
and are still inclined to Ioiter at suc;,
places to gossip and discuss the lat-
est news of any kind.
"A large number of business card.
anu letterheads, placed there by The
former businessmen of the city were
IN the box. Among the business
nr'ns represented were: Hidden and I
Co., dry goods; w. p. Boardrnan
architect; (Mr. Boardman is supposed
10 nave drawn the plans for the Uni /
ON school building.) George A. Clarkes |
business cards read highest price
PAID for wool, hides. pelts and bees
wax" I
Other firms were: Louis T.. Davis.
hardware, tin and iron: Willard and