Early community buildings, schools, and churches were established initially in the center of town. From 1884 until it burned in 1929, the Lewiston opera house served both as church and as community recreation center. As Lewiston grew, the school and other churches were built away from the center of town, and a separate community building and recreational facilities were built.

The location of a sugar factory in Lewiston in 1904, later operated by the Amalgamated Sugar Company, presaged many changes in the community. Anticipating an upsurge in growth, Lewiston incorporated as a town in 1904 and reincorporated as a city in 1921. Municipal improvements followed in rapid succession: a concession for telephone lines in 1904; improvements of a city cemetery that same year; an electric franchise in 1905; a city water system in 1913; a railroad line built by the Logan Transit Company in 1915; and the paving of sidewalks in the business center in 1916, with an expansion in 1924. The 1930s saw another spate of city improvements. These included curbs and gutters in the central area, a sewer system, a new community complex, a new school building, a community grandstand and recreation park, and a public library.