Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the First National Bank, the Jewell County Jail and the Jewell County Courthouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1982 on.
The Mankato post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Jewell Centre (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mankato’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mankato.
Mankato was originally called Jewell Center, and under the latter name laid out in 1872. It was renamed Mankato in 1880 after Mankato, Minnesota. Mankato was incorporated as a city in 1880.
The first post office in the town was established as Jewell Center in August 1872. The post office was renamed Mankato in April 1880.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltFirst National Bank is built
Born hereWint Smith is born here
BuiltJewell County Courthouse is built
In the archiveUte Theater, Commercial Street
Born hereGregory Doud is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mankato’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Mankato’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Jewell Centre, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Mankato post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Three places: the First National Bank (listed 1976), the Jewell County Jail (1995) and the Jewell County Courthouse (2002).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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