# Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home *A historic house museum and National Historic Landmark in Sauk Centre, Minnesota* The Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home is a house museum in [[Sauk Centre]], [[Minnesota]], and holds National Historic Landmark designation.[^1] The novelist [[Sinclair Lewis]] (1885–1951) lived there as a boy. He later became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Wikipedia's article dates his years in the house from 1889 to 1902.[^1] The heritage page of the Sauk Centre tourism authority also lists the house, with the year 1889, as a National Historic Landmark.[^2] Lewis's novel *[[Main Street]]* (1920) drew on Sauk Centre as he saw it from this house.[^1] The Sinclair Lewis Foundation acquired the house in 1956. With help from the [[Minnesota Historical Society]], the Foundation returned it to its appearance in Lewis's boyhood, and the work was finished in 2003.[^3] The Sauk Centre Historical Society took ownership in 2026.[^1] ## Who Lewis's parents were Edwin J. Lewis, a physician who saw patients in the house, and Emma Kermott Lewis. He had two older brothers: Fred, born in 1875, and Claude, born in 1878.[^4] Emma Lewis died in 1891, when her son was six. In the following year Dr. Lewis married Isabel Warner.[^4] Three bodies have owned or worked on the house since then. The Sinclair Lewis Foundation has owned it since 1956, and the Minnesota Historical Society assisted with the restoration.[^3] The Sauk Centre Historical Society has owned the house since 2026 and runs tours in summer and by appointment during the rest of the year.[^1] ## What The building is a two-story wood-frame house with an L-shaped plan, clapboard siding and a gabled roof. Its open front porch runs the width of the façade. The porch roof rests on slender square-paneled posts trimmed with brackets and an entablature.[^5] The ground floor has a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen that opens onto a small enclosed porch. The upper floor has four bedrooms and a bathroom equipped with running water and a flush toilet, for eight rooms in all. A frame carriage house of 1½ stories stands at the back of the lot.[^5] The house is furnished with period items, and several of them belonged to the Lewis family.[^3] The tourism authority's heritage page invites visitors to "step back in time and experience the enduring spirit of this quintessential American town." It calls Sauk Centre "a place where heritage and hospitality go hand in hand."[^2] Wikipedia's account of *Main Street* says that many of the novel's episodes came from real events in Lewis's youth in the town. According to that account, the book praised small-town values while attacking people who were hypocritical about them.[^4] ## When - Lewis was born on February 7, 1885, in the family's earlier house across the street. Wikipedia's residency section says the family moved into this house when he was a few months old.[^4] The lead section of the same article dates his residence from 1889, and the tourism page also gives the house the year 1889.[^1][^2] - At age 13, Lewis tried and failed to run away to serve as a drummer boy in the Spanish–American War. In late 1902, at age 17, he left Sauk Centre for school on the East Coast. He graduated from Yale University in 1908.[^4] - *Main Street* was published in 1920.[^4] - By the mid-20th century the house had been divided into a duplex. The Foundation acquired it in 1956, and the restoration was completed in 2003.[^3] - The Sauk Centre Historical Society became the owner in 2026.[^1] ## Where The house is in Sauk Centre.[^1] The Lewis family's first home, where Sinclair Lewis was born, stood directly opposite on the south side of the street.[^4] The Sinclair Lewis Foundation later sold that birthplace house, and most of the restoration was paid for with the proceeds.[^3] ## How The conversion to a duplex turned the ground-floor dining room into a bedroom and bathroom and added a kitchen on the second floor. Other changes included stucco on the exterior, partitions in the ground-floor kitchen, a sealed door to the rear porch, replaced floors, an enclosed front porch and a dormer on the roofline.[^3] The Foundation's restoration reversed these alterations. It also brought back period wallpaper, reroofed both the house and the carriage house, put HVAC equipment in the basement and restored the grounds.[^3] ## How many - The house has eight rooms, four of them bedrooms.[^5] - The tourism authority's heritage page counts four National Register properties in Sauk Centre.[^2] - The [[Original Main Street Historic District]] covers ten blocks and has about 90 contributing properties, according to Wikipedia.[^6] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry AI-Stearns-089 rests on a single source on visitsaukcentre.org. It records that the Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home is a National Historic Landmark. It also records that the landmark status of the [[Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center]] could not be confirmed, so the project does not claim one.[^7] The entry is anchored to a March 2025 White House presidential action on eliminating information silos.[^8] The record does not establish whether the Interpretive Center holds any landmark designation. ## In the Minnesota record ### Where - The Sauk Centre tourism authority's heritage page lists the Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home (1889) as a National Historic Landmark.[^2] - The same page lists the Original Main Street Historic District, built between 1920 and 1947, as one of four National Register properties in the city.[^2] Wikipedia gives 1994 as the year the district was listed on the National Register.[^6] - The record does not establish whether the house lies within the district.[^2][^6] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home*, lead section (revision 1376056396, retrieved 2026-10-28) — house museum and National Historic Landmark in Sauk Centre; Lewis's residence 1889–1902; Nobel Prize; *Main Street* inspired by the town; 2026 ownership by the Sauk Centre Historical Society; tours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis_Boyhood_Home [^2]: City of Sauk Centre / Sauk Centre tourism authority, *History* heritage page (undated; grade not assessed) — self-description of the town; Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home (1889) as a National Historic Landmark; Original Main Street Historic District (built 1920–1947) as one of four National Register properties. https://www.visitsaukcentre.org/history [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home*, "Later history" section (revision 1376056396, retrieved 2026-10-28) — duplex conversion and alterations; 1956 Foundation acquisition; Minnesota Historical Society assistance; restoration funded by sale of the birthplace and completed in 2003; period furnishings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis_Boyhood_Home [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home*, "Lewis residency" section (revision 1376056396, retrieved 2026-10-28) — family members; birth on February 7, 1885, in the house across the street on its south side; the family's move; Emma Lewis's death in 1891; departure in 1902; Yale in 1908; *Main Street* in 1920. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis_Boyhood_Home [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home*, "Description" section (revision 1376056396, retrieved 2026-10-28) — construction, porch, eight rooms, carriage house. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis_Boyhood_Home [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Original Main Street Historic District* (grade not assessed) — National Register listing in 1994; ten blocks; about 90 contributing properties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Main_Street_Historic_District [^7]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, entry AI-Stearns-089 (from *RESEARCH_Fraud_Charter_Lewis.md* ¶41–42; single source, visitsaukcentre.org) — the Boyhood Home's landmark status stated; the Interpretive Center's status unconfirmed and not claimed. https://www.visitsaukcentre.org/history [^8]: The White House, presidential action on eliminating information silos (March 2025) — the anchor recorded for at-issue entry AI-Stearns-089. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/