Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 32,427. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County6, and is located along a large bend of the Minnesota River at its confluence with the Blue Earth River. Although the main part of the city is in Blue Earth County, it extends into Le Sueur and Nicollet counties as well. It is neighbored by its sister city across the Minnesota River, North Mankato and completely encompasses the town of Skyline . Mankato is currently home of the Minnesota Vikings summer training camp.

Related Topics:
U.S. state - Minnesota - 2000 - County seat - Blue Earth County - ⁶ - Minnesota River - Confluence - Blue Earth River - Le Sueur - Nicollet counties - North Mankato - Skyline - Minnesota Vikings

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The city is also known for the macabre events of December 26, 1862, when the largest mass execution in U.S. history occurred in Mankato following the Sioux Uprising. 303 Dakota were sentenced to hang after being tried for participation in the uprising. President Lincoln pardoned 265 at the urging of Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple but still left 38 to hang. Lincoln's intervention was not popular at the time. 2 statues now commemorate the event located on the site of the hangings (currently the Blue Earth County Library). Vice President Schuyler Colfax also died in the city in 1885 while traveling, though he had been out of office for over ten years at the time.

Related Topics:
December 26 - 1862 - Execution - Sioux Uprising - Henry Benjamin Whipple - Vice President - Schuyler Colfax - 1885

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Both the city and its county are named after the Blue Earth River. Mankato is the Anglicized form of the Dakota mahkato or green-blue earth, a reference to the characteristic blue clay deposits in the region, originally thought to contain copper by early explorers. According to legend, Mankato was not named as "Mahkato" due to a typographical error by a clerk. Humorously, "mankato" in the Dakota language means "blue skunk".

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In fiction, Mankato was the "big city" that characters in Little House on the Prairie would visit to obtain supplies, and served as the basis for the "Deep Valley" of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy series of children's books and novels.

Related Topics:
Fiction - Little House on the Prairie - Maud Hart Lovelace - Betsy-Tacy

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