Here’s one way to learn about this history of your town: take a walking tour — and have cocktails at the same time!
OK, it was more like pints, rather than cocktails, but we learned a lot and had fun too. Our first stop. Rounders in Mankato, after the jump.
There were four groups, and so we would remember which group we were in, we were all given strings of red beads.
Just like Mardi Gras.
Here’s a link to a PDF that gives an overview of the tour.
Basically, it says that the Front Street in Mankato was the center of commerce for downtown Makato starting in the 1950s. As in most towns, commerce moved out of the downtowns in the 1960s, and then they tried urban renewal. The Makato Civic Center was built over the 200 block, and the Mankato Mall is over the 200 and 400 block. A cryin’ shame.
For our first stop, we went to Rounders.
Our lovely guide points out that it used to be separate store fronts:
Click here to see a PDF of the history of the 412-416 South Front Street, where Rounders now is.
The inside of Rounders is not particularly historical:
So part of the deal for the pub crawl is that each stop on the tour provides a little something to eat.
Then you buy your beverage(s). Here at rounders, there were sliders and mac and cheese:
As well as shrimp cocktail:
At each stop, the Historical Society organized to have someone do a short lecture. Usually, it was the owner of a former store in the building. Here at Rounders, the owner of a former music store talked about his longtime business.
They also showed some projections of old photos:
Bob and Ann are having fun!
And here we are, too:
And, we’re off to our next stop on the pub crawl!
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