Literary Landmarks: Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home This house, at 812 Sinclair Lewis Avenue, Sauk Centre, Minnesota, was the childhood home of Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951). His most-famous book, Main Street, was inspired by his home town as he perceived it from this house where his father, Dr. Edwin J. Lewis, practiced medicine. The ladies literature readings in depicted Main Street were held by his step-mother in the parlor. The medical emergencies in Arrowsmith were played out on the front porch as patients rushed to see his father. For more information click here: Sinclair Lewis Museum, or click here for Books by Sinclair Lewis.

Today's Birthdays:

• Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), German physicist, inventor of alcohol thermometer
• Queen Victoria (1819-1901), queen of Great Britain, Ireland and empress of India
• Mikhail (Aleksandrovich) Sholokhov (1905-1984), Russian writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1965 (Donskie Rasskazy, "Tales of the Don"; Oni Srazhalis Za Rodinu, "They Fought for their Country")
• Bob Dylan (b. Robert Allen Zimmerman, 1941) , American lyricist, folk singer, songwriter (Blowin' In The Wind; A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall; Mr. Tambourine Man)