Development in the Downtown district dates principally from the boom period of about 1895 to 1930. For the most part, the buildings in the district are typical of late nineteenth and early twentieth century designs.
The fact that much of the area was already fully developed combined with the Great Depression to create a decline in the rate of construction in Sanford’s central business district during the l930s, a trend which continues to the present.
The streets of Sanford basically follow a grid pattern, with the major arteries corresponding with the many highways that pass through the town and the Downtown district area.