Bayview celebrating 100 years on May 29

It all started with five businessmen from Spokane sketching plans for a bay-cuddled hamlet, where they dreamed folks could lounge on float homes and fishing boats would stir the waters.

Since then, the city of Bayview has evolved, from hosting lime quarries to sprouting successful businesses.

Yet after 100 years, it still remains relatively hidden from the world.

And it's worth celebrating.

Bayview will hold its primary Centennial celebration on May 29, and everyone is invited, said resident historian Linda Hackbarth.

"Lots of people in Coeur d'Alene say, 'I've never been to Bayview,'" Hackbarth said of the small resort town an hour north of Coeur d'Alene.

"Sometimes we never explore our nearby areas, yet we travel hundreds of miles to see something someplace else."

The city has been holding small centennial celebrations every month to honor the year of 1910, when the Prairie Development Company in Spokane first planned out the city.

The festivities will culminate on the 29th with the dedication of a new entrance sign for the city, funded by $8,000 in community donations and a $2,000 grant from Kootenai Electric Cooperative.

The sign was designed and built by Bayview residents Theresa and David Long of Lakeland Company Inc., who have contracted work across the nation for companies like Cabela's.

"I think it (the citizens' donations) shows people in Bayview really care about the community," said Hackbarth, who was on the fundraising committee. "It's once in a lifetime. One hundred years doesn't come around very often."

The dedication at 10:30 a.m. will follow with a series of historic walking tours through the city, given by Hackbarth, who has written books and made a DVD about Bayview's past, as well as local history buffs Herb Huseland and Ralph Jones.

Sites will include the century-old kilns that prepped limestone after it was mined from Bayview quarries, the Buttonhook restaurant that was transformed from a float home in the '30s, as well as the depot from the railroad that cut through the city in the early 20th century.

"If you have any interest in history or you want to learn more about the community of Bayview, we'd love to tell you about it," Hackbarth said.

The tours will run every half hour from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. A barbecue will also be held at the Bayview Community Center from 4 to 6 p.m.

For more information, go to www.bayviewhs.com.

Visitors might discover something special, Hackbarth said.

"Most people who have come out here to live or retire, when asked, 'Why did you come here?' say, 'We dropped down the hill and saw this beautiful view and never wanted to leave,'" she said.