Free Press photo by Pat Christman
David Engen is compiling audio interviews for an exhibit at the Blue Earth County Historical Society about the history of Front Street in Mankato.
This picture of Front Street, probably in the 1920s, is being used in promotional material for the exhibit. (Photo courtesy of David Engen)
The idea of “place” has interested Dave Engen for a long time.
A communications studies professor at Minnesota State University, Engen has a passion for collecting oral histories about Mankato and southern Minnesota as a whole. The recordings of residents’ memories can be heard at the Web site Voices of the Valley.
“Place is where people come together and form community,” he said.
As Engen was collecting the audio documentaries for the site, he found people kept talking about Front Street and what an important place it was to the Mankato community. In response, Engen began collecting memories about Front Street.
“It’s an ongoing project,” he said. “Front Street was thriving for about a hundred years, but many of the memories we’re getting are from the ’40s and ’50s, and into the ’60s.”
In the 1970s, Front Street was changed dramatically by urban renewal, Engen said. Mankato put a mall in the middle of the street, now called Mankato Place.
“The street, as people remember it, is simply not here anymore,” he said. “But the memories of Front Street are very much alive in this community.”
The aim of Engen’s project is to preserve those memories of Front Street.
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