Minnesota Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Sauk Centre, Minnesota

Population: 3,581

Located in Stearns County

People come to our area for more than our thriving economy or a superb education. Sauk Centre has the best of both worlds as a growing urban center and a peaceful rural getaway. The county is a natural beauty with rolling, wooded hills and tranquil lakes, awe-inspiring plains and granite outcroppings. Located about 45 minutes from St. Cloud, Sauk Centre has become a popular place for tourists because of one person, named Lewis.

The people of Sauk Centre once thought of Harry Sinclair Lewis as the youngest and geekiest of Dr. Edwin J. Lewis's three sons. An indifferent student, unpopular and unathletic, he excelled only in debate and drama. In 1920, when Lewis published his novel Main Street, Sauk Centerites were furious with the man who had apparently renamed his home town Gopher Prairie and portrayed it as a place of tasteless dwellings inhabited by cloddish rustics and a few clueless, would-be intellectuals. Some recognized themselves or their neighbors in paper-thin disguise and were not amused. The Sauk Centre Herald refused to acknowledge the book until six months after its publication, and the library banned it for a while.

But by 1930, when he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature (he'd declined it in 1926), Sinclair Lewis had gone from town pariah to favorite son. Today Sauk Centre attracts scholars, writers, lovers of literature, and visitors from around the world. They tour the Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center and the Boyhood Home and gaze up at the window of the author's father's former medical office.

Those looking to buy homes will encounter homes selling in the $100,000 range, which offers a comfortable three bedroom, two bathroom home. Within the city limits the size of the lots are a typical city size, once on the outskirts, size varies. Rental vacancy rates are also very low, hovering around 5%.

Stearns County is a large county, encompassing Sauk Centre. This county is one of the more rural in this section of Minnesota. It offers over 90 parks covering 1,200 acres, more than 500 lakes and protected wetlands that sport some of the best fishing in the Upper Midwest, 8,000 acres of waterfowl production/hunting areas, more than 40 resorts and campgrounds, more than 10 golf courses and two downhill ski areas.

With literature on the menu, and recreational activities for the entire family, cost-effective homes and an excellent school system, Sauk Centre has become the ideal location for people from all walks of life - come check us out!