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Exploring Historic
Downtown Littleton
T
ake a short drive down I-25 to Littleton and you will find a
charming, historic downtown community to explore. This
small city of 41,000 residents offers an abundance of restaurants,
shops, and natural habitats, as well as its own museum.
It was the 1859 gold rush that led the town’s namesake, New
Hampshire native Richard Sullivan Little, to head to Colorado where
he used his engineering skills to help deliver water to local farms and
businesses. His wife, Emily, arrived a few years later and found the dry
climate to have a curative effect on her asthma. The Rough and Ready
Flour Mill—built by the Littles and some neighbors—put the small
community on a firmer footing, followed by the Denver and Rio
Grande Railroad in the early 1870s. Littleton was now here to stay
and incorporated into a town in 1890 by the vote of its 245 residents.
A stroll down Littleton’s tree-lined downtown brings you past a
variety of shops, cafes and restaurants. Dine anytime at the elegant
Café Terracotta (cafe-terracota.com), which is housed in a quaint
Victorian house, just a few blocks north of Main Street. With a
full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, the Café’s offerings range
from pancakes and omelets in the morning, to midday salads and
sandwiches, to enticing dinner creations each night.
For a taste of more simple food with a mission, make a point to stop
at nearby Gracefull Community Café (gracefullcafe.com), where
you can enjoy delicious, affordable breakfast and lunch fare in a
comfortable, neighborly setting. The café was opened by Heather
and Troy Greenwood to fulfill a lifelong passion for bringing people
together over food. Once a CPA and high school business teacher,
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