From the Board President- January 2020

Written By: Mike Dixon

It happened! The J.C. White house has been moved and is resting proudly on its new foundation at the base of Tubbs Hill. This move and the appearance of the house at its new site has generated a level of excitement and support that the Museum of North Idaho has seldom, if ever, witnessed before. People from all over the Coeur d’Alene region come forth daily to offer their ideas, services, donations and labor to move the project onto fruition. And this is just how it should be.

It took the close collaborative effort of many people to get the White house moved, and it will take a much broader community effort to complete the project. Much is left to do to design the research/ education and exhibit spaces, write our story, and create exhibits that will illustrate that story in a way that will make viewers want to come back again and again to learn more. No single individual has the gifts necessary to make this happen. The museum board, staff, and consultants together don’t have all the skills and ideas needed. This will truly require the help of people from all over our region. So much is still needed. It will take everyone chipping in, contributing however they can, to build a state-of-the art, ever-changing and improving venue to honor our history, and to encourage thoughtful consideration about how we want our future story to read. We need your thoughts, your dreams, your stories, your historical artifacts, and very importantly, your financial help.

When the doors finally open for the first time it will be said that WE, the people who lived here in the early 2020s, built this great museum as both a tribute to those who came before us and a prized gift to generations to come. In my next letter I hope to provide more detail about what you will see when you first visit the new museum. But don’t forget the current museum. Join us. Become a member. Invest generously. Help us as we Move History Forward.