Editing Litchfield, Minnesota (section)

===Early history as village===
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By 1871, the village had grown to double the population of [[Forest City, Minnesota|Forest City]], a community {{convert|7|mi|0}} to the northeast. The railroad put up a {{convert|25|by|60|ft|adj=on}} one-story building called an "immigrant's reception house". In addition to Litchfield, the railroad in the 1870s put immigrant houses along its lines in villages including [[Willmar, Minnesota|Willmar]], [[Benson, Minnesota|Benson]], [[Morris, Minnesota|Morris]], and [[Breckenridge, Minnesota|Breckenridge]]. The houses were "fitted up with cooking stoves, washing conveniences, and beds." Newly arriving immigrants were given shelter in the reception houses and the chance to buy food and clothing at cost from the railroad while they looked for land in the area.

While most sidewalks in town were made of wood, the first cement sidewalk in Litchfield was laid in 1895 in the 200 block of Sibley Avenue.