Then & Now: How immigration reshaped the look of a Minnesota farm town

WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Immigration from around the world has transformed Worthington, bringing new businesses to emptying downtown storefronts as well as new worship and recreational spaces to this town of 14,000 residents in the southwestern Minnesota farmland.

On the same downtown block where children once admired Coast King bikes while their parents bought furniture and do-it-yourself tools, Asian and Latino markets now bustle with shoppers lugging 50-pound bags of jasmine rice from Thailand or fresh meats seasoned “al pastor.” Figurines of Buddha and Jesus are for sale, standing on shelves behind the cashiers.

A former maternity and children’s clothing store is an immigration law office. The building that housed the local newspaper, The Globe, is now the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And just past the end of the main street, baseball fields were recently remodeled with turf from a shuttered golf course and turned into soccer fields. On weekends, food trucks line the parking lot while two dozen teams in adult leagues play for hours on end to crowds of fans.