Ghost Towns in Blue Earth County
By Hilda Parks Pioneers settled and cleared the land. Crops were planted, and farming began. Sawmills and blacksmith shops [...]
Horse Racing in Mankato
By Hilda Parks Racing was once a popular pastime in the Mankato area: foot racing, bicycle racing, and horse [...]
Blue Earth County’s Courthouse
In 1886 the lead architect by the name of Mr. Healy drew an accurate view of the soon-to-be new [...]
Creameries
By: Ollie Anderson Dairy was a big business in Blue Earth County from before the 1890s through the present [...]
History of Salet’s Department Store
In 1896, Russian immigrant Leon Salet opened a store called L. Salet and Son in Mankato. Salet had come [...]
Hometown Grocery Stores
By Hilda Parks Do you remember when you could walk to the local grocery store on the corner? Can [...]
Mind the Gap
By Kristin Matzke For thousands of years, the human race has built structures to surmount many obstacles of the [...]
Take Me Out To The Ball Game
By Hilda Parks Baseball did not become popular in Minnesota until after the Civil War, although the game was [...]
Blue Earth County Established in 1853
In late January 1852, Parson K. Johnson and Henry Jackson, along with a few other men, set out from [...]
The Circus Comes to Town
Many of us remember that on hot summer days the Big Top appeared in Mankato. Perhaps we still see [...]