I worked in mankato at a company called cwc,. and it was the worst 3 year of my life. Theres nothing to do in that town, except go to the mall and watch the foulmouthed country kids spew all their garbage. A real backwards community, thats for sure.

Always interesting to see this topic reappear and to see how little of the replies relate to the question asked.<BR><BR>Met Mrs. Lovelace and her husband (also an author - That Dodger Horse is one book of his that I remember) years ago. My grandmother was one of her lifelong friends.

A dubious destination. Mankato lacks culture, variety and warmth. But it does have lots of greasy fast food restaurants, buffets, and obscenely overweight citizenry.

I can't believe there's a thread about Mankato, my hometown! I am sorry to see all the negative posts, but I think in many ways the town deserves it. <BR><BR>I left in 1995, after college, and I couldn't take another minute in that place. There are a lot of nice people in Mankato, but that's part of the problem. Most visitors never see or meet them. What you get, mostly, is a horde of rubes coming in from all the small towns within 100 miles of Mankato. And when I say rubes, I'm talking about the kind of fiercely uneducated and uncultured farm folks whose idea of a weekend getaway is to stay at the Mankato Super 8 and go to the mall for 10 hours to shop for a new clip-on tie. These idiots are killing Mankato, since the retail trade and cultural offerings are geared to this lowest-common-denominator demographic. <BR><BR>Mankato is sold to visitors as some kind of "cultural" mecca for all of southern Minnesota, but that's a joke. There is no culture in Mankato, unless a mediorcre mall is your idea of high art. There are no significant museums, theater is limited to the local schools (Brigadoon, anybody?), and the restaurant scene is nonexistent (lots of dreadful buffets and fast food, though). The town gets a few of the second- and third-tier performers on tour (REO Speedwagon was a recent headliner!), and the "sights" can be seen in one short, 10-minute drive through town.<BR><BR>The best bet when you come to Mankato is to keep driving until you can't see the fast food strip in your rear-view mirror anymore...

I am sorry to say many of these comments about Mankato are right on. I lived there from 1968 through 1998 and it was a source of sorrow to me to see Mankato become nothing more than a suburb wannabe. What was a beautiful, vibrant river town thirty years ago has become the cultural dump of Souther Minnesota. The town has de-evolved from a classic midwest town to a city that exists solely to service the shopping needs of the surrounding 15 rural counties. The previous post suggested that Mankato is populated with rubes and I have to agree that--on weekends at least--they pour into town and drag the collective local IQ down by 50 points. Mankato becomes filled with ignorant, sullen people who shuffle mindlessly from one store to another, from one buffet line to the next. Meanwhile, Mankato has lost any semblence of culture to these throngs (who's got time for art or history when there's shopping to do?). The downtown area--once a vibrant and interesting city center--has turned into a wasteland, populated by bars and various superflous low-rent retail shops. The park system has not improved significantly since the 1940s, and there is a single, musty, vacant museum in town, hardly worth a look. If you want to spend some time in Southern Minnesota, try New Ulm. While it, too, is losing its identity like Mankato, at leats it isn't in the same rush to sell out to the rubes.

Mankato always looked like so much fun in Little House on the Prairie.

I live in a town about 11 miles from Mankato and sometimes I wish I was a lot farther away than that. My husband and I no longer do business in Mankato because to go to the mall or the grocery store or the library or the doctors office is to subject yourself to the most vile, filthy behavior you can imagine. I don't know what it is about the kids in that town but they use every four-letter word you have heard, and then some. The town has nothing to offer, really, because there are no good cultural attractions. The parks are overrun with drunk teenagers and garbage and vandalized facilities (where is the park budget?!). The local civic center used to host some nice events, but now it's all bad country music and 70s rock bands. The civic center has been vandalized, too, with grafitti everywhere and things on the walls that you can't print here. Walking downtown or going to your car in the evening is interesting because of all the bars and drunks milling around (where are the police?). Mankato used to be a nice town, but no longer.

If you're a Betsy-Tacy fan, you'll enjoy seeing Mankato. I did the whole B-T tour thing as part of a convention visit, but I'm sure the maps and brochures are available at the public library or from the major hotels.<BR><BR>There are some artifacts and other items on display at the library and Tacy's house is now owned by the Betsy-Tacy society. You can drive around and see many of the sites from the books. Tib's house, Betsy's house, the bench, the old library, Carney's house complete with sleeping porch, Lincoln park, etc. You can also visit Maud's grave.<BR><BR>This is a small town and you can drive around, park, get out, walk places, take pictures, stand in front of houses for pictures, whatever.<BR><BR>Enjoy!

I think Mankato is fighting a losing battle with growth. There is no plan to the sprawl and, as a result, it is starting to feel like a second-rate suburb there now. I agree that cultural attractions are sparse. The restaurant scene is abysmal (fast food is definitely king there--NO ethnic restaurants!). And I had to laugh at the comment about the gutter talk at the malls. I am simply shocked at the behavior of the local teens and college students. I keep my kids away from that place at all times. It's incredible what passes for acceptable public behavior in Mankato--worst I've seen in 20 years of travels. Unless you HAVE to go to Mankato, consider just about anywhere else. It's a depressing, scary place to be.

What I find scary about Mankato is the lack of diversity. Everyone is white!<BR><BR>Though there is basically no crime and people do not need to worry about their kids out at night or about locking their doors. Also the schools are good because there are no language issues.<BR><BR>Funny how that worked out???

Mankato never wanted to be a real city. It was a farming town, had a few jobs an businesses to support agriculture. Then came the University, which added some culture to town. But beyond that, nobody in Mankato is trying to make it a sophisticated, cultured city.<BR><BR>If you visit, here is what you'll get: A midwestern town that has growth into a small city. A slower pace. Good people who are glad you came. And a nieve but geniune belief by the people that there is no better place to live. You'll go away unimpresses by the town, but impressed by the people.

If my recent experience in Mankato is any indication of how "impressive" the people are, then this place is as bad as all the previous posters suggest. Mankato is a truly awful place to be.<BR><BR>I visited my aunt and uncle over the Easter weekend and was astounded at the crude level of behavior of the people in every public place we went to. The air was filled with profanity at all times by people of every stripe ("Git me a ****ing pack of smokes, mother****er!" was typical of what we heard). Illiteracy of unimaginable proportions is everywhere (if you think parts of the south are backward, visit Mankato sometime and see how the local schools are doing!). <BR><BR>Also, I was astonished at the mean-spiritedness of the place. People were rude, offensive and seemed to take pride in their ignorance and poor conduct. <BR><BR>I live about 200 miles from Mankato and I am thankful for the distance. I don't plan to return anytime soon!

"If you visit, here is what you'll get: A midwestern town that has growth into a small city. A slower pace. Good people who are glad you came. And a nieve but geniune belief by the people that there is no better place to live. You'll go away unimpresses by the town, but impressed by the people."<BR><BR>Bullshit. As a resident of a nearby town, I can tell you with 100% certainty that while you might find such qualities in the small towns around Mankato, you will find nothing remotely impressive about the town or its people. Mankato has turned into one big trailer park during the past 10 years. I have no idea where these people came from, but the Mankato is overrun with hoardes of stupid, mean people. We'll drive 25 miles out of our way to avoid it!

I am amazed at the number of postings regarding Mankato. I always thought it was such a nice town. It can not be a Rochester or Madison Wisconsin but name me another town in the state around its size that is nicer.<BR><BR>Is Austin, Albert Lee, Worthington, Wilmar better towns, and why?

"Is Austin, Albert Lee, Worthington, Wilmar better towns, and why?"<BR><BR>Nice use of language. I was going to add my two cents to the pile, but I think your moronic post sums up Mankato better than anything I could have written. <BR><BR>They must have one hell of a school system there.<BR>

I think the poster was asking if there were better towns around 30,000 people in the midwest than Mankato. Regardless if he should have said Are vs Is, his question still stands.<BR><BR>I think Mankato Minnesota is a very nice town for a city of 30,000 people in the midwest.

I do business in Mankato for a pharm. company and it is my LEAST favorite city in the Midwest, bar none. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in that town. There is no art, no music, no theater, no history, no walking, no sports, no parks, no nothing. I HATE Mankato and can't imagine how anybody could live there.

No parks in Mankato???<BR>How about Mineopa State Park? A beautiful waterfall and Sibley Park, a beatiful spot on the river.<BR><BR>No culture: The college is full of cultural opportunities.<BR><BR>Mankato is a beautiful town on a river with lots of trees and hills. Have you driven out to Mount Kato beautiful drive, or along Glenwood Avenue, beautiful.<BR><BR>Mankato is one of the nicest towns of its size in the state!

Well, interest in this topic may well be waning, but since I just returned from a brief trip to Mankato and surroundings, I'll add my two cents anyway.<BR><BR>While the above descriptions of Mankato as a cultural wasteland covered with big chain stores and restaurants are right on, I witnessed no vulgar behavior in the mall, on campus or elsewhere and overheard no expletives. Maybe I just got lucky, but I have a feeling some of the posters exaggerate. Everyone I spoke to was polite, even friendly, and spoke grammatically. They all said no one locks their doors at night in Mankato, which also suggests that milling drunks, etc. are not a widespread phenomenon.<BR><BR>Indeed, and sadly, there is nothing to do in Mankato. The tourist interested in local history has to be self-motivated, for there is little effort to publicize it. The downtown area looks to be a poor echo of its former self. Minneopa State Park looks grand, but that's about it.<BR><BR>St. Peter, just north of Mankato, is loads more charming, and the campus there, Gustavus Adolphus, while small, is attractive. There is even a cool coffeehouse, the River Rock Cafe, right on the main drag. The whole town is tidy and quaint in spots, although I'm told the tornado of 1998 tore down a lot of the old trees. There isn't much to do here, either, but St. Peter is at least blessedly free of the neon shopping hell.<BR><BR>Northfield--that's the town for me. It's commutable to Mankato; that is, it's an hour's straight shot, which is fine if you're used to an urban crawl. It's 45 minutes from the Twin Cities. It boasts two colleges, a vibrant "downtown", 2 or 3 ethnic restaurants, and an absurdly well-educated population. Downside? Housing prices are much higher than Mankato/St. Peter, but you get what you pay for, and the market is far from stagnant. <BR><BR>We encountered a couple of born-and-bred Mankatoans who resented our decision to settle in Northfield instead...I wasn't brave enough to say this to their faces, but I think they should ask themselves what it is about their town that would attract anyone today. And hey, if Mankato is happy to be the chain-shopping mecca for miles around, if that has saved it from boarded-up ruin, then I say right on.