[3] His most famous book, Main Street, was inspired by the town of Sauk Centre as Lewis perceived it from this home.

Throughout his lonely boyhood, the ungainly Lewis—tall, extremely thin, stricken with acne, and somewhat pop-eyed—had trouble gaining friends and pined after various local girls.

[5] In late 1902, at the age of 17, Lewis finally left Sauk Centre to attend school on the East Coast, ultimately graduating from Yale University in 1908.

More crucially, he bared his frustrations with his outsider status, extolling small-town values while savaging those who were hypocritical about them.

However the residents of Sauk Centre recognized the real-life inspirations in the novel's fictional town of Gopher Prairie and were offended.

With assistance from the Minnesota Historical Society, they restored the house to its appearance during the time of Lewis's residence.

[3] The restoration was largely funded by the Foundation's sale of the Sinclair Lewis birthplace house across the street, and was completed in 2003.