Fifty years of change

POST FALLS - Sixty-one years ago, Idaho Veneer Co. was on the verge of setting up shop in Coeur d'Alene.

"(Co-founder) John Gregor was looking for a site for the mill so he went to Coeur d'Alene, but got a cold shoulder," said John Malloy, who now owns the business with brothers Dan and Pat.

Gregor then stopped at the Falls Club in Post Falls on what was Highway 10 (now Seltice Way) and found a home for the business.

"The proprietor of the Falls Club told him about the piece that we're on now," Malloy said. "That's the kind of welcome we got from Post Falls from the start. It's been a great relationship."

The Post Falls Chamber of Commerce will celebrate 50 years on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Greyhound Park and Event Center. There will be a 1960s-themed party, dinner, dancing, auction and raffle prizes.

The cost is $50 per person or $300 for a table of eight. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.postfallschamber.com.

Pam Houser, chamber CEO, said the event will celebrate both Post Falls' past and future. The nonprofit has grown from 300 members in the 1980s to 440.

"The business community has come a long ways in 50 years," Houser said. "The economic drivers have changed."

Timber dominated the past before tourism took hold, followed by manufacturing, high technology and a medical corridor.

The Malloy brothers said it wasn't until the '70s when the Post Falls business community began to take off. Photos from the '50s and '60s show vacant properties all around the business and few homes.

Then neighorhoods sprouted. Interstate 90 divided the city and took a portion of the Idaho Veneer property.

Dan Malloy said the chamber has provided an excellent networking tool through the winds of change. While customers of the business are not local, the chamber has provided an avenue to build relationships with local suppliers.

Dan credits the chamber for not leaving longtime businesses such as Idaho Veneer behind as other industries come online.

"Pam's done a good job of making it a cohesive unit," he said.

Houser said the chamber has tried to form more partnerships with education, the city and Jobs Plus in recent years.

"We're all in partnership and want the same things," she said.

The annual Reverse Job Fair, for example, where students discuss their career goals with professionals, has become a model for the rest of the state, Houser said.

Communication methods have also changed from hard-copy newsletters to emails, texts and social media.

"We've tried to be responsive to the members' needs," she said.

Houser said building the chamber office next to City Hall was indicative of the nonprofit's desire to be at the center of the community for years to come.

She said the diversity of its membership is worth celebrating.

"We need to honor the past and celebrate the future," she said. "We've got great things ahead of us with a lot of available land."