View source for First National Bank of Mankato

{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = First National Bank of Mankato
| nrhp_type    = nrhp
| image        = File:First National Bank of Mankato-02.jpg
| caption      =
| location     = 229 S. Front St., [[Mankato, Minnesota]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|44|09|59.9|N|94|00|13.7|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin     = Minnesota#USA
| built        = 1913<ref name="HABS"/>
| architect    = Ellerbe & Round
| architecture = [[Prairie School]]
| added        = July 30, 1974
| area         = less than one acre
| mpsub        = Blue Earth County MRA (AD)
| refnum       = 74001004<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nrhp"/>
}}
The '''First National Bank of Mankato''', also known as the '''Old First National Bank of Mankato''' and located at 229 South Front Street in [[Mankato, Minnesota|Mankato]], [[Minnesota]], United States, is a fine example of [[Prairie School]] architecture in a commercial building, relating rural life to the development of downtown Mankato as a regional center of commerce and finance. The recently restored exterior is now part of the Mankato Civic Center, the [[Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center]].
==History==
[[File:First National Bank of Mankato-ca1913.jpg|thumb|left|First National Bank of Mankato, {{Circa|1913}}]]Mankato was settled by [[Anglo]] [[Ethnic groups in Europe|European]] [[Settler|pioneers]] beginning in 1852. The region had been occupied by the Sisseton "Lake Village" [[Sioux|Santee Sioux]]. The year before they signed the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]] ceding their lands to the U.S Government for [[annuities]].<ref name="Mankato Historic 6-8"/>  Afterwards Mankato experienced rapid growth, strategically located on the main transportation artery serving region, the [[Minnesota River]].  The influx of commerce and people sprouted stores, hotels, quarries and other commercial ventures.<ref name="Mankato Historic 18-21"/>  "Crucial to these businesses, and the agro economy of [[Blue Earth County]], were Mankato's banks."<ref name="Mankato Historic 21"/>
The First National Bank of Mankato was one of the three competing financial institutions in the early 20th century, along with the Citizens' National Bank and the Mankato State Bank (previously the Mankato National Bank).<ref name="Mankato Historic 21"/>  The First National Bank went into history as the target of the famous aborted robbery by [[Jesse James]] and the [[James-Younger Gang]] in 1876.
Looking for a new building, First National Bank officials approached Carl K. Bennett of [[Owatonna, Minnesota]] where the acclaimed [[Louis H. Sullivan]] [[Prairie School]] bank had been built. In 1912 he connected them with the famous [[Minneapolis]]-based architectural firm of [[Purcell and Elmslie]], both of whom had worked and studied under Sullivan.<ref name="Western Architect"/><ref name="Gebhard and Martinson"/>  According to several accounts, Purcell and Elmslie drew extensive [[blue print]]s for the proposed building providing them to bank officials for review.  Later informed by mail that the bank would not be using them, they requested that their prints be returned.  The sketches were, but only after a protracted delay.  During which time the bank hired the architects Ellerbe and Round who made drawings very similar to the Purcell and Elmslie submissions.<ref name="Western Architect"/>
The 1913 Ellerbee and Round  construction made so much use of the Purcell and Elmslie sketches that Purcell and Elmslie even received congratulatory letters from some who had assumed the design was theirs as it said "Purcell and Elmslie".<ref name="Western Architect"/>  Although closely following the Purcell and Elmslie drawings Ellerbe and Round did eliminate a landscaped [[Courtyard|forecourt]] and a deep arch in the [[facade]] similar to what Purcell and Elmslie had used on their design of the  [[First National Bank (Rhinelander, Wisconsin)]].<ref name="Gebhard and Martinson"/>
Ellerbe and Round would go on to become famous for designing a number of structures for the [[Mayo Clinic]], including the original "Red" Building of 1914.
Originally occupying the prominent corner of Front Street South and West Hickory Street, the First National Bank building was threatened with demolition.  Instead, the exterior has been restored and incorporated into the south side of the [[Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center]] as one of the center's event spaces.  With that portion of Front Street gone, the restored bank exterior can now be accessed at approximately 105 West Hickory Street.<ref name="Mankato Historic 21"/>
==Architecture==
The First National Bank building includes Mankato limestone, brick, and terra cotta in a manner similar to that of the [[Louis Sullivan#The banks|"jewel box" banks]] of [[Louis Sullivan]] or the banks of his former employees, William Gray Purcell and George Elmslie. The brick building's architectural features include [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]-inspired stained glass windows and intricate ornamentation at the roof-line.<ref name="HABS"/>
Even though David Gebhard and Tom Martinson conclude that the resulting building lacks the "liveliness" of a work by Sullivan or by Purcell and Elmslie, they consider it "a good academic exercise in the Prairie Style" and "the most important single building in Mankato."<ref name="Gebhard and Martinson"/>
==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:First National Bank Building, Mankato.jpg|The bank building before restoration
File:First National Bank of Mankato-07.jpg|Interior transition from event center
File:First National Bank of Mankato-06.jpg|Interior looking to event center
File:FirstNationalBankMankato.jpg|Exterior, side and rear of building
File:First National Bank of Mankato-03.jpg|Exterior attached to event center
File:First National Bank of Mankato-04.jpg|Interior showing windows
File:First National Bank of Mankato-05.jpg|Bank vaults behind banquet table
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="HABS">{{cite web| title =First National Bank Building| publisher =Historical American Buildings Survey| url =http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?pp/hh:@field(SUBJ+@od1(MINNESOTA--Blue+Earth+County--Mankato))| access-date =2007-11-08| archive-date =2022-05-13| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20220513032654/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?pp/hh:@field(SUBJ+@od1(MINNESOTA--Blue+Earth+County--Mankato))| url-status =live}}</ref>
<ref name="nrhp">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MN/Blue+Earth/state.html|title=National Register of Historic Places|date=2007-11-08|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2007-11-08|archive-date=2016-06-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604173252/http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MN/Blue+Earth/state.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Mankato Historic 6-8">{{cite web |url=http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |title=Historic Context Study |first=Thomas R. |last=Zahn |author2=Associates |date=Winter 2009–2010 |publisher=Mankato Heritage Preservation Commission |location=Mankato, Minnesota |pages=6–8 |access-date=2010-07-03 |archive-date=2011-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009115558/http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="Mankato Historic 18-21">{{cite web |url=http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |title=Historic Context Study |last=Zahn |pages=18–21 |access-date=2010-07-03 |archive-date=2011-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009115558/http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="Mankato Historic 21">{{cite web |url=http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |title=Historic Context Study |last=Zahn |page=21 |access-date=2010-07-03 |archive-date=2011-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009115558/http://www.mankato-mn.gov/upload/images/Mankato%20Context%20Study%20M-res.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="Western Architect">{{cite web|url=http://208.127.94.2/panel.asp?PanelID=PID041296339103207090319981202461000625|title=Editorial on First National Bank|date=March 1914|work=The Western Architect|access-date=2008-10-13|archive-date=2011-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529230805/http://208.127.94.2/panel.asp?PanelID=PID041296339103207090319981202461000625|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Gebhard and Martinson">
{{cite book |last1=Gebhard |first1=David |last2=Martinson |first2=Tom |title=Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoarchitect0000gebh |url-access=registration |year=1977 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press  |location=Minneapolis |isbn= 978-0-8166-0775-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetoarchitect0000gebh/page/240 240] }}</ref>
}}
==External links==
*{{HABS |survey=MN-156 |id=mn0447 |title=First National Bank Building, 215 River Front Drive, Mankato, Blue Earth County, MN}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
[[Category:Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Blue Earth County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1913]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Mankato, Minnesota]]
[[Category:1913 establishments in Minnesota]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Blue Earth County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Prairie School architecture in Minnesota]]