Robert R. Greer was 26 years old when he moved from Quebec, Canada, to Lanesboro in the 1860s. He started one of the first businesses in town—Greer Dry Goods Store—that would remain a fixture downtown on what is now Parkway Ave. for four decades and is now occupied by Paddle On Coffee. A respected citizen and town leader, Greer became Lanesboro’s first mayor in 1868. This house, built in 1888, was where the Greer family lived.

What a fun and lively home it must have been! Robert and his wife, Saddie, had ten children. (Sadly, one of those children, a three-year-old boy, died in a barn fire). After an active and productive life in his adopted hometown, Greer later became a Minnesota state legislator and by 1905 had moved to St. Paul.

The upstairs remained a home throughout most of this building’s history. In the 1990s new owner Mark Brewster transformed it into “The Red Hotel.” Under new ownership it continues to serve guests as a boutique hotel.

Downstairs has been a number of businesses. In the early 1900s it was the main office of the Lanesboro Leader newspaper (subscription rate? $1 per year). Over time it has also been an art gallery, a tire shop, and the “Alive Coffee” coffee house.

Next door is a building most commonly called “The Blue Hotel” because of its color it for many years. Built the 1870s and expanded in 1879 it was just that, a hotel and with a first-floor family restaurant. Operated by the Thoen family, “Thoen’s Café” was a popular eating spot for decades. After sitting vacant for a number of years, recent renovations have revived hopes for the next chapter of this prominent Lanesboro building.