Visit the Alfred Historic District, located in the center of town, and you will be traveling back in time. The village here and buildings within the district have changed little in the last one hundred years. In fact; 48 homes in the district are on the National Historic Register list. At the beginning of the second half of the 18th century, the first settler arrived in Alfred. Although his dwelling was rudimentary, similar to those lived in by the Native Americans in the area; soon a large number of two story dwellings were built by the newest settlers. Some are still standing today. Inside of twenty years there were sawmills, gristmills, a brickyard, tanners and potters in town and a thriving lumber industry developed which made land available for the development of an agricultural economy. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the town's population began to increase rapidly with a shift to urban development; causing the city to develop a Comprehensive Plan to limit growth.

The Honorable Paul A. Fritzsche