The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-01-26

! When the library tirsL opened, it
had total of 1000 books, gwen by
the w. G.. I. u, Individual dona,
tions, 1901 volumes bought by Lne
lsecretary when he went to Chicago
Tor that purpose, and 1858 volumes
second year this number had In
lcreased TO 27SS volumes, in 1897 to
1908. At the present time the II.
brary contains 1887 volumes cx.
Clasive of the 2,2e7 volum es kept in
the school buildings. At the close Of
the fiscal year for the library in
March, 1921, there had been a cir
culation OF 61,927 volumes for that
year. UP to the month OF October
OF 1922 there had been an increase
of 1919 volumes over correspon-
ding period of the previous year.
Five thousand borrowers are listed
by the library. Sub stations have
been opened in the Franklin and
Roosevelt schools where books are
circulated to both the students and
I. 10 the general public
| By the school contract recently
made between the school board and
the library board, the school Ii.
brary is a branch of the public Ii
brary and the school librarian is
paid half by the school board and
half by the library board. The
school pays for the books bought
for the school collection.
The librarian is Sophia J. Lam
high school librarian and general
school librarian who is trained.
The assistants in the Carnegie
building are three in number and
! is also. an apprentice class OF three
high school girls who put in Ger
tain amount Of time at the school
libraries and receive some instruc-
tion from the chief librarian. For
this work they receive high school
credit.
Paving in the City
There are forty four miles of
miles of curbing. The streets are
wide and handsome, there being
ISL miles Of paving. chiefly of as
phalt. There are forty miles of
graveled streets and it is contem-
plated paving much of this in the
near future. At the present time
paving is under contract for Pleas
ant IN. 4th, State, Van Brunt and
Clark streets. Grading is being
done on N. 5th, Franklin and Fon
taine. The city contains two
beautiful parks in the Sibley and
Washington parks. Planting and
flowers has been done by experts in
landscape gardening and they lend
much to the city's dignity and
pbeauty.
Mankato Electric Traction Company
This company was organized in
1907 under the laws of West Vir-
lginia by the late William Hixon as
president, the late Fred Kron AS
vice president and w. D. Willard as
secretary and treasurer. The above
with H. E. Vance, H. A. Patterson,
T. ]. Hoerr and George NJ. Palmer
constituted the board Of directors
up to 1918. Almost two hundred
Mankato citizens were stockholders
and the majority of these still hold
their stock. .-.. ..
Since 1918 the operation of the
road has been taken over by the
Mississippi Valley Electric Com
pany of Iowa City, Iowa, which also
controls the street car systems in
Iowa City and Fort Madison Iowa.
The present officers of the local
company are j. o. Schulze, presi-
dent and general manager; ]. H.
Rohret, vice president and treasur-
er and Frank n. Sveppel, secretary.
all of Iowa City. Adolph Mueller of
this city is the superintendent and
purchasing agent for the Mankato
company.
The car barn property and the Of
fees are located at 1101 North
Broad st. and comprise two full
lots 1872 1919 feet. Here is housed
the rolling stock and other equip
ment and supplies. All of The re-
pair work is carried on at the com;
tpany's shops. The regular rolling
stock is composed OF six double end.
with two 80 H p WESTINGHOUSE mo-
tors, operating on $50 volts, direct
current and geared to run twenty
two miles an hour on a level track.
Until 1916 the cars were operated
by two men but since that time one
man has handled the work on the
pay as you enter plan. The COM
pany also maintains double end
snow sweeper to keep the line open
in the winter. This is equipped
with three 40-H = Westinghouse
motors, two to run the sweeper and
one TO run the broom. e
Three regular cars are operated
approximately seventeen and one
half hours each day; two on the
Front St line with fifteen minute
Roadway and one on the Hill line
with a thirty minute Roadway.
There are few cities the size OF
Mankato that have the privilege Of
a street car line and fewer still that
get as frequent service at the pre-
war price of five cents.
| The company has a trife more
than five miles Of track in opera
ton extending from Dukes addi-
ton in the North end to Sibiey
Park in the west end and from the
main part of the city out to Ogle'S
addition. The local force of en-
ployees is regularly composed, of d
superintendent of transportation,
superintendent of way and a master
mechanic, two foremen, six regular
motormen and two car barn repair
men. At other times in the season
a car painter and track repairmen
are employed. The payroll for 1921
was approximately $4,000.
SHOT WIFE THREE TIMES