Picture yourself at the intersection of Cherry and Second Streets in the historical city of Mankato, Minnesota. You will see an old building that has been restored. It will be a one-story building with many windows covered by green awnings. This is now the Earl Johnson Furniture Store. It is constructed of beautiful red bricks that are accented by limestone. This limestone was more than likely taken from a local site and put on the building to accent the red bricks.

Mankato is located in the Minnesota River Valley, has a great history of being one of the few places where you are able to mine large amounts of limestone. Limestone is a yellow looking rock that is found in wet environments. This building is one of the great examples of local businesses using local resources. This is a great thing because it keeps the local economy going and it shows that local businesses can survive.

I am unsure when this building was built but it was most likely in the 1950s. It started out as a Greyhound bus station. This was the main bus outlet from Mankato because in that time many people rode buses. This building was also a tractor supply store. This business sold many tractor parts to the local farmers. This was a very important business in the past because Mankato is in rural Minnesota town where farming was a very big business. It was very important for the farmers to be able to buy their machinery and the parts for it locally so they didn’t waste time going to a large city get the parts.

This is a picture of the Earl Johnson Furniture Store

This building is an example of an upended facility because it turned into a small town modern business. In 1971 the building was changed to what it is now, the Earl Johnson Furniture Store. This building has gone through some remodeling phases to get to where it is right now. The lower level with green awnings on the windows is what houses the furniture store. When you walk into the store you feel like you are in a very nice house. It is split up into many different rooms that are all beautifully decorated with all types of furniture. This stores offers every type of furniture you could imagine.

If you talk to Mark Cramer the author of Funky Towns USA, he might call this an upended facility. He would say this because it was once a bus depot that served many people with transportation throughout the region, but now serves a very different purpose, because there is a big difference between providing transportation and selling furniture. Also Greyhound is a much more widespread business than selling furniture from a small town business.

Cramer may also not call it an upended facility because it has always been some type of a retail business, because it has always sold something.

On the other hand, I would say that it is an upended facility because it has offered three very different products in the past and the present time. So I believe that this is a good example of an upended facility.

This store is in a very pedestrian friendly part of town. This part of town is called the old downtown because this is not the part of part of town where all of the big box retailer and the chain stores are located. The old downtown is very pedestrian friendly because there are many stores, restaurants, and many other interesting places that are in a small area that are all within walking distance which makes it very nice for people that want to shop.

Earl Johnson Furniture has a lot of competition from big box retailers within the region of southern Minnesota. The idea of small-town-business is liked by many, because it is giving to someone that is just a normal person and not a big corporation. This business’ motto is “we only look expensive.” It is this because the building is large and beautiful and looks very expensive, but the prices are very reasonable.

I think that his store is a great asset to the old downtown because they have turned this old building into a thriving business of Mankato and it brings people from other places to shop in Mankato. It is a great business because it is owned by a local family and they also operate it.

After reading this essay I hope when you walk or drive through the intersection of Second and Cherry Street, you think about this building and you realize that this is an old building and that has gone through many changes. I also hope when you are considering buying new furniture, you stop by Earl Johnson Furniture. Take a look at the wide selection and make your purchase there, instead of going to a big box retailer and giving them your business. Because, if you think about it, it is much better to help out a small town family, instead of a large corporation that you don’t even know who owns.

Josh Sletten

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