Litchfield, Minnesota, group creating a vibrant community in historic downtown

Oct. 22—LITCHFIELD

— It's been a long time coming, and it took a lot of effort by a lot of people, but Litchfield's historic downtown is becoming a "vibrant, super cool, fun place" in the community.

"There's a hundred people involved in this project over the last 15 years. It took 15 years to get it looking like it looks today and having all these pieces come together and all of a sudden there's this vibrant, super cool, fun place to go downtown," said Tim Cook, realtor at

Premier Real Estate

and co-owner of the building that houses the

Captain's Club

, one of the newest downtown venues.

The Captain's Club is located in the Independent Review building at 217 North Sibley Avenue. According to Lichfield City Councilor and

Heritage Preservation Commissioner

Darlene Kotelnicki, the Independent Review is the oldest business on Sibley Avenue, which is the main thoroughfare through downtown.

The Independent Review offices have been located in that building since 1909.

Cook and Charles Burdick bought the building about three years ago from the MediaNews Group, which had purchased the Independent Review. The Independent Review maintains a small office in the building. The building has been renovated to accommodate the Captain's Club in the rear of the building and a large gathering space in the front of the building.

Kotelnicki and Cook are also members of the

Litchfield Downtown Council

, which formed in 2018 as a nonprofit focused on providing a successful downtown Litchfield business environment, organizing downtown events, preserving and protecting the historic downtown, and offering networking opportunities for members.

"We started renovating this space before we really knew what we were going to do with it. Virtually everything back here came from the paper," Cook said of the Captain's Club, which has the character and feel of an old speak-easy.

He explained that MediaNews Group was reducing the footprint of the Independent Review and moving nearly everything to Crow River Media's Hutchinson offices.

There was 130 years worth of newspaper office furniture, bound newspaper books, an old printing press and other things left in the building afterward. Independent Review General Manager/Editor Brent Schacherer was tasked with removing items, and much of it was ending up in the alley behind the building, according to Cook.

"At one point, we were like, 'Can we just have everything? We'll redecorate with it,'" he said. "It was a slow concept that started and then as we had more stuff ... relics from the past and such, all of a sudden Kristina (Olson), the wheels started turning, she was like, 'Oh, I'm going to renovate this space back here.'"

Olson is Cook's life partner, and runs

Fiddler's Green

, a venue space outside of Litchfield.

The newspaper receptionist desk was repurposed into a bar, and the shelves for the bound newspaper volumes were painted, but still hold the old newspaper volumes. Cook notes that people enjoy taking the bound volumes out and looking at them during events. A pew from a Catholic church provides additional seating, and the kneeling rail was repurposed as a footrest at the bar.

The bar stools were found free on the side of the road by Kotelnicki, who immediately contacted Cook when she found them to see if he could use them.

"Pretty much everything was repurposed that's in here. And then we built it and we actually didn't know what we were going to do with it," Cook commented. That is until Litchfield resident Stephanie Westphall called with a "weird request" on Christmas Eve — she wanted to rent the space for her family Christmas gathering.

Although Cook and his family were out of town, the keys for the building were kept in a lock box, so it was easy to grant her request — and the new business was created. "I'm kind of a 'build it and they will come' type philosophy," Cook commented.

Westphall immediately booked the space for the following Christmas, telling Cook that renting space allows her to enjoy her holiday with the family without having to board her dogs or make her children give up their bedrooms.

The space can be rented by the hour or for a daily rate. There are special rates for weekly or monthly small group gatherings, as well as pop up shops and sales events.

When asked why he would buy a building without knowing what he was going to use it for, Cook said, "You know, Kristina asks me that question all the time." He explained that he was the real estate agent that had the building listed for sale for a number of years.

"It often happens with properties that we list ... as time goes by I start to like the building more or I see it differently, I guess, than everyone else does," he continued, noting that he was eventually contacted by the real estate agent for MediaNews Group asking if he would like to purchase the building. "I was like, 'Well, kind of.' Primarily because of the upstairs."

Cook really loved the upstairs apartment of the building, which had gone untouched since former Independent Review owner John Harmon had moved out of it in about April of 1964.

"I guess in my mind, I picture he lived up there for many years, but at some point it was probably drafty and electrical was kind of spotty back then, it was just surface-mounted stuff and stuff was probably just getting old after 50 years," Cook said. "He built a house in town and then moved everything out of the apartment, except for, like, the last load. There was probably one more trip to be made and (he) never made it and locked up the building and there it sat since April of 1964. ... It sat in a time capsule until we reopened it up probably four or five years ago."

Cook explained that the people who worked at the newspaper never went upstairs, because there was no power or lights and the windows were boarded up. His goal is to renovate the upstairs into apartments.

Several new businesses have sprung up in the last few years as neighbors to the

Captain's Club

in what years ago seemed like an abandoned downtown.

"That's kind of a new thing, right?" Cook said of the new downtown atmosphere. "It's been fits and starts. ... It's almost like you go by and everyone is like, 'The downtown is falling apart, no one's even down there.' And then all of a sudden at some point you drive down and you're like, 'Oh, what's this business? What's that like? Where did all these businesses come from?'"

He explained that renovating and revitalizing historic buildings for new business purposes takes a long time, and the stuff that takes place first isn't always noticeable.

"You do your roofs and your plumbing and your electrical and your furnaces and the things that are expensive and take time to recover from, from an expense standpoint, right? And then you get your business internally in order and make sure everything is up and running," Cook said.

Another member of the Litchfield Downtown Council, John Dyer, owns the building in which two new businesses operate —

Sweet Escape

and

Any Thyme Catering

. Dyer and his wife operate Sweet Escape, which opened in Litchfield in 2021. It also has a location in downtown Annandale.

The building has a commercial kitchen in the back, which Dyer was only using to wash ice cream scoops. He offered the space for rent to Hannah Groth, who owns and operates Any Thyme Catering.

The Dyers purchased the building, located at 226 North Sibley Avenue, and remodeled the entire inside. They ripped out old drop-down ceiling tiles and added all new lighting and paint.

"It was a process, more than I was expecting," Dyer said, noting that Kotelnicki assisted with preserving the historic parts of the building. "Everything you touched fell apart. These old buildings are tough. They are constantly bleeding money, these old buildings, and it's hard."

But Dyer and his wife have a love for downtowns and their historic quality.

"The only reason we like it is we're sort of old-school and I like the old downtown vibe," he said, noting that when they travel, they make a point to tour the downtown areas of other communities. "It used to be the heart and soul of a lot of towns, but it's not anymore. We're trying to bring that back with our business. ... If you have a vibrant downtown, you have a sense of community, too."

Two more businesses that rent their space downtown are

Red Door Nutrition

and

Perfect Pooches Grooming and Photography

. Red Door Nutrition operates out of the building located at 134 North Sibley Avenue and serves up healthy shakes, drinks and other items. Perfect Pooches is located across the street at 129 North Sibley Avenue. The spaces out of which each business operates were renovated to fit their needs.

Other businesses that have recently opened in downtown Litchfield include

Half Bushel Brewing

,

Air-Pro Heating and Cooling

,

Hemp Hut

and

Fieldgate Cheese Store

.