Parked along an alley in downtown Le Center, Minnesota.
WHEN THE WEATHER WARMS (it will happen soon in Minnesota, right?), I’ll have my camera out more. Documenting. Photographing. Showing you the places I visit, the discoveries made.
The original section of the Le Sueur County Courthouse was built in 1897 of brick and Kasota stone at a cost of $55,000. It was designed by Chicago architect Louis M. Curry of Mayo & Curry in the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style. Additions have been made to the building and remodeling done.
Those include small towns like Le Center. It’s the county seat of Le Sueur County and about a 45-minute drive northwest of Faribault. It’s one of those communities you’d likely not drive to unless you had business or family there or were passing by en route to somewhere like St. Peter.
I love this row of well-kept old buildings in the heart of Le Center.
On a recent Saturday afternoon of road tripping, Randy and I stopped in Le Center. We parked downtown, popped into the thrift store minutes before closing, walked 1 ½ blocks along sidewalks and then looped back through an alley to the van.
I snapped a few photos. These images offer a glimpse of this community.
A front window in Mexican Delights, a downtown restaurant.
Diverse.
Patriotic.
Spotted inside a Le Center thrift store.
Trusting.
Lovely in aged buildings.
Assorted trucks and other vehicles were parked in a vacant lot and along an alley behind Main Street businesses.
You can tell a lot about a town in first impressions. I need to revisit Le Center, though, to uncover more of its personality. Small towns are each individual, as individual as the folks who call these communities home.
© Copyright 2018 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
The architecture of so many of these older buildings is consistent throughout the Midwest – even down here in Oklahoma. Like you, I love that many of the structures have been maintained over the years. It’s disappointing that in Nebraska I’ve noticed many old courthouses have been torn down. There’s just something special about discovering one of those grand structures in the town square – smack dab in the middle of the business world.
We have many such wonderful old courthouses in Minnesota and this one in Le Center is particularly stunning. The one in my county of Rice is newer and done in Art Deco. It replaces one destroyed by fire.
I’m thankful there’s a deeper appreciation for these beautiful old buildings than in the past.
LeCenter is my county seat. Your photos are a great tribute to our community!
Thank you, Shirley. It was fun to poke around Le Center for a little bit. I need to return when the weather warms. That will happen, right?
Love these small towns, especially the architecture of the old buildings. Rick and I really need to venture up this way sometime. I have not been to a lot of the communities North and West of Faribault…. some day 🙂
Feel free to head this way and explore. I’ve been to most of the small towns in your area and in the extreme southeastern corner of Minnesota. But even I’ve visited once, it doesn’t mean I’ve seen everything.
Wow that court house looked like a lot of others until I saw the top. It looks like a castle
Pretty sweet, isn’t it?