NORTH IDAHO MUSEUM: 'The community scrapbook'
Robert Singletary, with the Museum of North Idaho, pulls out an old photo of a man working on the Mc Phersom Bridge in 1934. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
LOREN BENOIT/PressRobert Singletary with the Museum of North Idaho speaks about the history of General William T. Sherman and his ties to the Coeur d'Alene area during class on Tuesday at Lakes Magnet Middle School.
At the Museum of North Idaho, Dorothy Dahlgren and Robert Singletary examine a silver-lead-galena ore specimen from Lucky Friday Mine. (Photo by DUANE RASMUSSEN)
Tucked in a corner by the lake is a Coeur d’Alene treasure cove, home to some of Idaho’s most prized jewels.
Although small, the North Idaho Museum is a living storybook of regional history. Here, tourists are welcomed to town and locals can relive childhood visits.
This month the museum staff is welcoming visitors to help celebrate the museum’s 50th birthday.
The exhibit, titled “Keeping History Alive,” features the favorite artifacts of museum staff and volunteers, compiling the museum’s most popular pieces over the last five decades.
Visitors can jump into Idaho’s past by steering the wheel of a vintage steamboat, exploring a fire watch tower like those used during the 1910 Fire, touring an 1800s kitchen and more.
The educational and interactive showcase has been put together by community members and museum director Dorothy Dahlgren.
Dahlgren, who has been the museum director for over 35 years, said she couldn’t have pulled off the exhibit without help from the community and local historian Robert Singletary.
“I love this museum—I would do anything for it,” he said. “We are the community scrapbook. If we don’t preserve it, it can go away. We store what the community wouldn’t want to lose if the town burned down.”
The museum itself has its own storied history.
After the creation of the North Idaho Historical Society in 1949, it took the help of an organization of loggers, lumbermen and foresters, known as the North Idaho Hoo Hoo Club, to get the museum off the ground.
As the loggers’ collection of artifacts continued to grow, it became clear the collection needed a place to stay. On May 1, 1968, the secretary of state approved the creation of the Museum of North Idaho.
It wasn’t until 1979 that a Cenex service station was transformed into the regional history repository for Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone counties.
“There is so much history in this beautiful building, and it’s always changing,” said Kris Storey, museum patron. “The list of things they’ve gotten done would take years to read.”
To enrich the community’s knowledge of Idaho history, the museum board and volunteers do more than just put on exhibits.
Although the exhibit hall is only open from April to October because of the lack of heating, the museum is open year-round for researchers, students, authors, businesses and those curious.
“The museum is valuable to the community,” Singletary said. “The museum’s activities go beyond the museum walls.”
Throughout the year the museum board preserves the Fort Sherman Chapel and hosts historical presentations, including the Coeur d’Alene Public Library history series.
Singletary takes visitors on Coeur d’Alene historical tours in the summer, dressed up as five or six historical characters, from a steamboat captain to the commander of Fort Sherman.
The museum also has bus tours, student field trips, classroom presentations and more.
With 35,000 photographs and 7,500 artifacts stored in a searchable database, researchers come from all over—from Kootenai County to New York City.
Dahlgren said people have been brought to tears when they see ancestors and family members on the museum walls.
Even the museum gift shop, selling North Idaho Museum literature, is a testament to the museum’s expansive reach. The museum is the largest publisher of regional history books, with over 25 books published.
“Our museum runs on community support,” Dahlgren said. “Knowing about local history adds value to your life, your future and the area at large. Without our history, we wouldn’t know who we are.”
For its commitment to Idaho history and outreach, the museum was awarded the 2018 Idaho State Historical Society’s Esto Perpetua award. This is the highest award given in the state for those who work to safeguard Idaho’s history through professional accomplishments, public service, volunteerism and philanthropy. Dahlgren received the award in 2016.
More than 5,000 visitors stopped by the museum during the summer season this past year. Two-hundred artifacts were donated, and 60 volunteers gave over 2,000 hours of their time to the museum.
In the coming years museum staff is looking to expand. Dahlgren would like to expand the museum programs, but really, she said, they just need more room.
“We’ve been looking for more space since we got here in 1979,” she said. “There are more things in storage than on display, and it’s not always small artifacts. We need a place to store vintage cars and Miss Spokane lifeboats.”
Dahlgren said the best way to make sure the museum sticks around is through donations, sponsoring bus costs for student field trips, volunteer hours and memberships. The museum receives a quarter of its funding from the museum’s 500 members.
But Dahlgren said she would be happy if people came to the exhibit and shared it with friends and family.
To make sure locals have the opportunity to visit, the museum will offer free admission on the second Friday of each month through October from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., as part of the Coeur d’Alene Art Walk.
The museum is located in downtown Coeur d’Alene at 115 Northwest Blvd., in front of City Park.
Because of North Idaho Museum’s contributions, an exploration of Coeur d’Alene’s history is just as easy as a trip to the lake.