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Written by Robert Singletary for the Nickel’s Worth 1/8/2021 On January 2, 1911, one hundred and ten years ago, a new and modern high school building was opened for classes at Seventh and Montana in Coeur d’Alene. After passing a $40,000 bond levy in the spring of 1910, construction began the following summer and was completed…
Read MoreWritten by Robert Singletary. Featured in the Nickel’s Worth Jan 1, 2021. One of the first automobiles in northern Idaho was a 1902 Oldsmobile owned by Fred Landrus, pictured above. It was used primarily as a race vehicle. Most people in the early 1900s considered the automobile a novelty or a sport rather than a…
Read MoreWritten by Robert Singletary. Published in the Nickel’s Worth December 25, 2020. This log house was built in St. Maries in 1902 and started out as a men’s club. From 1906 until the early 1920s it served as the office and treatment center for Dr. G.S. Thompson. In 1926 Raleigh Hughes purchased the house and…
Read MoreBy Robert Singletary Special To The Coeur d’Alene Press| December 18, 2020 1:00 AM Thomas J. Purcell was born in Wales of Irish parents in 1868. He came to the U.S. with his parents when he was about 12 years old. After working in the Pennsylvania coal mines as a teenager, he made his way west, first…
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November 20, 2020 1:00 AM (in part from the Spokesman-Review July 31,1909) The 1909 Homestead Act opened up a large area of land south of Coeur d’Alene whereby citizens could enter their names in a lottery for a chance to homestead a large parcel of land. For 22 days, July 25 to Aug. 5, 1909,…
Read MoreBy By ROBERT SINGLETARY/Special To The Coeur d’Alene Press Robert Singletary Special To The Press| November 13, 2020 1:00 AM Marcus Wright, a native of Kentucky, moved to the village of Spokane Falls in 1877. By the early 1880s he had formed a partnership with Charles Wesley Wood and together they platted the town Rathdrum. At the…
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By By DEBORAH AKERS MITCHELL| October 30, 2020 1:00 AM With all the recent articles about saving the Hamilton House, it is time to learn about the person who built it — Boyd Hamilton, second mayor of Coeur d’Alene. It was 1903. The small town of Coeur d’Alene was beginning to grow, and the second bank, the…
Read MoreOctober 5, 2020 1:00 AM In 1909, Kootenai County citizens voted to outlaw liquor sales and become a “dry” county. The “drys” won by a narrow margin of 164 votes. So, for the next two years the prohibition debate continued. In 1911, it was once again put on the ballot. Some said that the proprietor…
Read MoreBy By RICHARD SHELDON/Museum Of North Idaho| September 11, 2020 12:30 AM First of two parts As the United States entered the 20th century, two important issues came together in a manner that would forever change our culture and economics. The first issue was the decades old and ever-increasing pressure for the country to enact laws which…
Read MoreBy By ROBERT SINGLETARY/Special To The Coeur d’Alene Press| September 4, 2020 1:00 AM In 1935 plans were underway to build a new civic center in the Coeur d’Alene City Park, replacing the 1905 dance pavilion. Construction began on March 8, 1935, and was completed in the fall of 1937. Most of the labor was provided by…
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