Sauk Centre ( ) is a city in

Stearns County, Minnesota Stearns County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,292. Its county seat and largest city is St. Cloud. Included within the Minnesota Territory since 1849, the county was founded by Europe ...

, United States. The population was 4,555 at the 2020 census. Sauk Centre is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. Sauk Centre is the birthplace of

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the America ...

, a novelist and winner of the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. It inspired his fictional Gopher Prairie, the setting of Lewis's 1920 novel '' Main Street''. There are two sculptures of Lewis in Sauk Centre; one life size sculpture just outside the public library named after him and a bust, sculpted by Joseph Kiselewski, inside the library.

History

The town was originally named by a lottery. The eight original town shareholders submitted suggestions for a name, and Sauk Centre was selected. The name was submitted by Alexander Moore, who originally bought and platted the town. Sauk refers to the many place names associated with the Sauk tribe ( Sauk River, Sauk Rapids, Little Sauk, Osakis, etc). Centre (the British spelling of "center") refers to the town's central location between Sauk Rapids and Lake Osakis. When the Sauk Centre post office was established it used the spelling "Sauk Center", until 1936 when the city won its fight to spell the name as Moore suggested. Local lore has it that five refugees from the Sauk tribe had been killed by settlers in an ambush on the shores of Lake Osakis away.

Attractions

Sauk Centre contains the Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home, a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

. Two other properties and a historic district are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

: The Palmer House built in 1901 and expanded in 1916, the Minnesota Home School for Girls built 1911–1935, and the Original Main Street Historic District built 1920–1947. Viking Altar Rock is a local landmark.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of ; is land and is water. Sauk Centre is located along

Interstate 94 Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...

/ U.S. Highway 52, U.S. Highway 71, and Minnesota State Highway 28. It is approximately northwest of the

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

metropolitan area. The city is considered to be in the middle of the state. Sauk Lake and Sauk River are the most notable water features of the area. Fairy Lake and Lily Lake are located just outside of the city limits.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 4,317 people, 1,851 households, and 1,174 families living in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,994 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 2.2% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4.4% of the population. There were 1,851 households, of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age in the city was 41.4 years. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.8% were from 25 to 44; 24.3% were from 45 to 64; and 21.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.4% male and 52.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 3,930 people, 1,616 households, and 1,042 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 1,709 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.68%

, 0.31%

, 0.13% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 0.38% from two or more races.

or Latino of any kind were 0.53% of the population. There were 1,616 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were

living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.01. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $37,644, and the median income for a family was $47,623. Males had a median income of $33,382 versus $20,399 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $18,390. About 2.3% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Churches

*Center for Christ *Faith Baptist *First Lutheran ELCA *Our Lady of the Angels Irish Catholic Church *River of Life Church *Saint Paul's German Catholic Church (home of the first U.S. shrine dedicated to the Divine Mercy of Jesus, dedicated 1982)

Notable people

* Alphonso Barto - Minnesota legislator and seventh Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota * Joshua Harrison Bruce - farmer and Minnesota legislator * Benjamin F. DuBois — banker and Minnesota legislator * Frank Eddy - US representative * Rachael Ellering — professional wrestler * Ody J. Fish — Chairman of the

Republican Party of Wisconsin The Republican Party of Wisconsin is a conservative politics, conservative and Right-wing populism, populist political party in Wisconsin and is the Wisconsin affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party (GOP) ...

* Mark Gleason - State representative * James Hendryx - author of Western fiction * Harold Palmer Howard, U.S. Army brigadier general * Vi June - Mayor and state representative in Colorado *

— novelist and playwright, 1930 Nobel Prize winner in Literature * Joseph T. Niehaus, Sr. - farmer, businessman, beekeeper, and Minnesota legislator * Colleen Randall - abstract painter and art educator * Dewey H. Reed - educator and Minnesota representative * Christine Reitsma - Princess Kay of the Milky Way * Cory Undlin - NFL Coach * Sylvester Uphus — farmer and Minnesota legislator * Harry C. Van Norman - businessman and Illinois legislator * Paul Zehrer - film and TV director, writer, producer, and editor * Terrence "Lee" Zehrer - entrepreneur and internet pioneer *

Education

There are two schools in the town: Holy Family and Sauk Centre Public School. Holy Family is a Catholic private school; it enrolls students from kindergarten to 6th grade. Sauk Centre Public School has two departments: elementary (kindergarten to 4th grade) and secondary school (5th to 12th grade). The mascot of Sauk Centre Public Schools is the Mainstreeters, in honor of Lewis' novel.

Other

A violent local incident in 1996, where the elderly Paul Crawford shot and killed four members of the neighboring Schloegl family over a property dispute, was featured in the episode "Lake of Madness" on the

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

series '' Fear Thy Neighbor''. The episode aired on April 20, 2015.

References

External links

City of Sauk Centre official website

Tri-CAP (Transit/bus)

at Open-Public-Records.com {{authority control Cities in Stearns County, Minnesota Cities in Minnesota St. Cloud, Minnesota metropolitan area