THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Compiled by Jean Lundquist

Feb. 8, 1991

The Viking Motel in Mankato, located halfway up the Madison Avenue hill, had been deteriorating for years.

In December 1990, state health department inspectors had ordered 27 of 62 rooms permanently off-limits due to rodent infestation, leaking plumbing and deteriorating structural problems.

The owner decided to close every room in the hotel by Feb. 10. But seven residents who lived there long-term filed suit, alleging in part that they were being evicted because of the complaints they had filed about the living conditions.

Some of them rented rooms at the Viking by the month. In court, they won the right to live there with full services until March, but the issue of back-rent had yet to be decided.

Feb. 15, 1997

Businesses in the Mankato Place in downtown Mankato may have been struggling a bit before demolition and construction began on offices in the mall for the city of Mankato and School District.

But with the remodel, many stores noticed decreased traffic, and owners were not happy about it.

One of the main issues was the construction of a wall that meant pedestrian traffic to the mall had to walk outside to get from one store to another. They also had to go outside to get from the mall to the civic center.

The owner of Double Play told a reporter that regulars would find them, but she worried others would not. Still, she said, there were always things that lure people in. “Right now for us, it’s ‘Star Wars stuff,’” she said.

Feb. 11, 2002

A big winter carnival in Mankato was planned as a lead-up to the city sesquicentennial celebration and as a response to criticism that Mankato’s RibFest had no family-friendly counterpart.

Although billed as a winter carnival, most events were scheduled indoors, including a kids playroom, concerts and a peanut bar staged in the Ellerbee Room at the civic center.

Meanwhile, a threat of a snowy weekend likely scared out-of-towners from attending, and the warm, rainy weather that actually showed up put the kibosh on the skating rink and melted ice sculptures in the Civic Center Plaza.

Feb. 9, 1984

When an unknown bird shows up at your feeders, it’s exciting. And so it was when a white-rumped Brambling came to feeders in Owatonna.

Though not avid bird watchers, the home owners knew they were looking at something out of the ordinary, so they called a bird-watching friend.

When he couldn’t identify it, he called a member of the Minnesota Ornithological Society, who knew the bird right away from his travels to Alaska.

When word got out, the homeowners brought every chair they owned to the picture window facing the feeders for birders with binoculars and cameras in hand, hoping to catch and capture a glimpse.

The owners were happy to invite birders in, offering coffee and cookies every day of the week. But they put their foot down on Sunday, closing and locking their doors to unknown bird watchers.