The town of Stanton, which was settled by Swedes, turns out to be the birthplace of the actress Virginia Christine, who played “Mrs. Olson” in the television commercials for Folger's Coffee; thus the town's high water tower is in the form of a gigantic Swedish coffee pot (built in 1971). A plaque at the base of the tower (the “World's Largest Swedish Coffee Pot”) provides you with all the vital information: height of tower, 125 feet; capacity of water-tank pot, 640,000 cups.
At the end of Center Street, situated on a hill, is the 1939–1940 Mamrelund Lutheran Church, designed by Harvey Peterson of Omaha, Nebraska. The church with central entrance tower presents a sophisticated picture of an abstracted version of the traditional Gothic church. The walls of the church are sheathed in smooth, finely cut and joined limestone; the decorative aspects have either been eliminated or reduced to their simplest form.
The combined city hall and library (1912) located on the east side of Broad Street south of Thorn Street entails a lively essay in pre-World War I Beaux-Arts Classicism. Placed directly on the street with no landscaped space around it, the building strongly announces its public presence. The center section of the street facade is recessed between two fluted Doric columns. In a central position is a lushly articulated door frame with bold consoles supporting a projecting roof. All of the detailing has been carried out in cream-colored terracotta that contrasts sharply with the red brick walls. The community's present city hall and public library building was originally built for the Stanton Bank.
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