Main Street, U.S.A., is believed to be the heart of the town. It's the town's pulse, the center of all bustling activity.

While many towns struggle to keep their downtowns alive, Litchfield has an important aid in preserving its town center, and it's not necessarily U.S. Highway 12 or Minnesota Highway 22 or Central Park. It's history.

Known as the commercial historic district of Litchfield, Sibley Avenue North between Depot Street and Third Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Over the years, buildings have changed hands and owners have come and gone, but the more than 135-year-old downtown still has a personality of its own thanks to the hundreds of shops, offices, stores and eateries that have made a home on Sibley Avenue North, otherwise known as Main Street.

All along the walls of Main Street Cafe, historic pictures of Litchfield tell the story of the small town.

Owner Ron Markovich went searching for the photos of the early 1900s to decorate his newly purchased café along Sibley.

"I just wanted the history of Litchfield on my walls," he said.

Humble beginnings
The first buildings in town actually were not built on Sibley Avenue but Marshall Avenue. A tailoring business and residence were both constructed in 1869 when the village was then called Ness, according to "Terry’s Tales," written by Litchfield native Terry Shaw. He weaves childhood stories from the 1950s with the people he knew and places he spent time, collecting the history of these buildings in his book and a sequel.

The first Sibley Avenue building was Samuel A. Heard and C.D. Ward's general merchandise store built on the southwest corner of Sibley and Third Street, where Ed Olson Agency stands today.

Slowly, other wood buildings popped up, too, and by 1870, main street was the hub of county activity. The town had a general store, lumberyard, lumber business, photography studio, livery stable, hardware store, a doctor and three lawyers.

According to Shaw’s book, most of the buildings that line main street today were built between 1882 and 1945 thanks to the brick produced by Henry Ames and Sons' Brickyard Farm. Shaw wrote that the years 1885 and 1886 most defined the look of Sibley Avenue North when most of the brick buildings on the 200 block went up.

Larry Ackerman, owner of Larry’s Barbershop, credits the electrical plant that produced steam heat for Sibley Avenue businesses through the late 1970s with preserving many of the original buildings.

While small fires occurred, the steam heat likely reduced the chance of fires wiping out an entire block, he said.

Notable events from the early years of Sibley include the first concrete sidewalk laid in Litchfield in 1895. Prior to that, residents walked on wood platforms.

In his research, Shaw discovered that downtown Litchfield had a small slope to it down to a pond where Sibley Antiques is today. Therefore, to walk off the wood sidewalk, people had to descend four-foot steps.

The pond had other interesting uses. At one time it was a landfill and the dumping ground of grasshoppers collected as bounties during the Grasshopper Plague in the 1876, Shaw said in an interview. "Sibley Antiques is built on a grasshopper graveyard," he joked.

Long histories
While all the buildings on Sibley Avenue changed owners' hands and types of businesses, some couldn’t shake a particular specialty. Shaw spent two years studying photos and browsing through old newspapers to record the history of all downtown buildings.

"Some buildings developed a personality. That is, the types of tenants were always the same: jewelry business, drug store, or hardware..." he wrote in "Terry’s Tales."

The building where Samuel Heard and C.D. Ward opened a general merchandise store, 239 Sibley Ave. N., has a long history as a general store. Heard opened the business in 1869 and sold it in 1883 when it became City Grocery.

With owners selling in and out, the name changed several times over the years, as well as its products from groceries to confectionaries to clothing. At one time it was Meyer Banks' Cash Bargain Store, which was fitting when J.C. Jacks leased the building in 1906 to start Jacks Bargain Store, later becoming Jacks' Ben Franklin. Jacks had a long run on the corner, closing its doors in 1962.

Greep's Corner, 100 Sibley Ave. N., where Sibley Antiques is today, was also known as a general store for many years. First, the site was used as a land office and Meeker County Courthouse, according to Shaw.

In 1892, Richard Welch built the red brick structure still standing today and it was used as a general merchandise store, known by many as Wells Department store around the turn of the century. After 22 years, it closed and Max Greenburg opened the Greenburg Department Store, which went bankrupt.

In 1926, the store became known as Greep-Trueblood, managed by the Osdoba family for 48 years. It officially closed as Greep's in 1979.

Another building with a long-standing personality is 202 Sibley Ave. N. on the northeast corner with Second Street. Built as a hardware and implement store, James B. Atkinson, Jr. and Alex Roehl moved their drugstore into the building in March 1897.

Charles A. Anderson bought into the store two years later and operated the drugstore until 1944. It was called Sward-Kemp Drug and Ringhold Drug well through the 1980s. Litchfield Video is there today.

Despite a history of fires, a couple of doors down, the Hollywood Theater has shown movies since Nov. 24, 1936. On grand opening night, the movie was "Libeled Lady" starring Jean Harlow and William Powell.

"To see all those lights in downtown Litchfield, that was Hollywood," Litchfield Mayor Vern Madson recalled from his childhood.

It was not Litchfield's only main street theater. Unique Theater, now a vacant lot north of Sibley Antiques, began in 1911 by the American Amusement Co. showing silent movies with the accompaniment of pianist Hardy A. "Snooky" Bronson, Shaw wrote. In 1915, the theater showed a special short film about the Litchfield area. Despite censorship and multiple owners, the theater lasted for years and was torn down in 1996.

Sibley Avenue's most notable hotel was the Lenhardt Hotel on the corner of Sibley and Depot Street, where State Farm Insurance is. Built in 1881, the picturesque hotel was built by Col. Jacob Howard, a Civil War veteran. Originally known as the Howard House, then the Lenhardt Hotel and Litchfield Hotel, the building stood for 96 years with its player piano, lion statues and front-room Colonial Cafe, before being torn down.

Also present was the Litchfield Exchange Hotel, built in 1870 by George Tiegen, at 118 Sibley Ave. N., a vacant lot today. J.C. Penney later built on the land having moved from the southeast corner of Sibley and Third Street. J.C. Penney operated in it from 1959 to 1991.

Other buildings with long histories include 113 Sibley Ave. N., which was a children's clothing store owned by Boyd Anderson’s family for 51 years, and 311 Sibley Ave. N., which has been a restaurant, most notably Janousek Brothers’ cafe, since the 1950s. It is Parkview Cafe today.

A changing personality
Madson remembers when he was growing up, Sibley Avenue buildings full from top to bottom. Retail stores and restaurants usually were on the street while dentists and lawyers had offices upstairs. In several buildings, barbershops were in the basements.

Many of the businesses once active along Sibley Avenue have moved on. There are no more hotels, bakeries, clothing stores or grocery stores. When once three drugstores kept busy on the main drag, today none exists. Instead, Sibley is full of speciality stores that sell knickknacks, antiques and one-of-a-kind items.

"The general things we need like food and clothing have moved out and now are all those things you can’t find in other stores. In a way that’s kind of sad," Shaw said.

Ackerman believes the biggest loss to Sibley Avenue is common with businesses throughout small towns — the loss of personal owners to corporate owners. Coming into a store, people often talked directly with an owner and had known him or her all their lives.

"You had that personality, individual psychology of store owners," said Ackerman, who opened his barbershop in April 1972 at 213 Sibley Ave. N. "I have seen them all come and go."

While some people call freeways and byways and speedy stores progress, Markovich believes a community loses something if it loses its downtown. However, he believes it can still be saved if the right stores come in to fill the town’s needs.

The taming of Litchfield's Sibley Avenue can’t go unnoticed either. While most people remember it post-Prohibition, the east side of Sibley Avenue was once full of saloons with fist fights that tore through the front windows like in the movies, Shaw said.

"The town was actually (the) Wild West. Sometimes they had up to a dozen saloons on the eastern side of the street," he said. At that time, the "respectable" citizens walked on the west side of the street, according to "Meeker County Memories."

Even though retail stores have disappeared, Madson said he would rather see offices and businesses on Sibley Avenue than empty windows. The few building vacancies downtown indicate small-town main street is still alive. "You have to have a downtown. It’s kind of the hub," Madson said. "It’s just a place to go. It's part of rural America."