Connecting threads of history: Post Falls Historical Society seeks memories, stories of Chapin Building

A curious painting is on the wall in the Post Falls Museum.

“Everybody thinks it’s a picture hanging," Post Falls Historical Society board member and museum volunteer Ted Fredekind said Thursday. "They don’t realize it’s part of the wall."

The partial painting was discovered beneath the sheetrock in 2009 when the historical society moved into the building. It shows what appears to be a person with an arm lifted just above the head. The face is not visible.

"It has orange and black clothing," said Kim Brown, Post Falls Historical Society president. "It’s probably something associated with students."

Fredekind said they can't decide whether the person is fencing or dancing.

"He’s got that pose," he said. "And the clothes don’t tip you off either."

They theorize it was painted in the 1950s, when the building was used as a dance hall called "The Hut" after the original Post Falls High School burned down during Christmas break.

Marv Patzer, who has lived in Post Falls since the early 1940s, said the school fire started in the middle of the night.

"Post Falls back in those days didn’t have much of a fire department,” he said. “I think they used mostly garden hoses and gunny sacks."

Back to the mural — who painted it? What is it of?

“It’s the mystery painting inside our building," Brown said.

Someone must know the story.

The Chapin Building at 101 E. Fourth Ave., where the museum and mystery mural are housed, is a treasure trove of stories. Members of the historical society are seeking even more Chapin Building community stories and memories as they prepare a celebration for its 100-year anniversary in 2023.

“We’re always collecting the stories," Brown said. "We need to get them written down."

The stories will serve as data to be included with a National Register of Historic Places nomination, an objective that has been in the works for some time. The goal is to have as much of the process done by the time the museum opens for the 2023 season in May. The last day the museum will be open for the 2022 season is Oct. 29.

"It is important to the historic record,” Brown said. “It helps, because people feed off each other’s memories."

The building was constructed in 1922 by Walter Chapin and opened as Chapin's Drugs in 1923 with a space in the back used as a doctor's office by a Dr. McCauley in the '30s and '40s, the door to which is still visible on the outside. Chapin ran the pharmacy for several years. Two of his children are immortalized in the Post Falls History Walk, where their images have been turned into large cutouts near the museum.

Chapin's Drugs housed a soda fountain that was quite popular in the then-sleepy little town of Post Falls.

One soda fountain story Brown heard involved Chapin calling a young man's parents after he stopped in on his way to church and spent donation plate money on ice cream.

“Chapin called the parents and said, 'You know he never made it to church?'” Brown said. “It was the idea that everyone watches out for all the kids.”

Before the Chapin Building existed, Post Falls founder Frederick Post owned the land. Prior to that, it belonged to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

"We try to imagine what happened before, which always goes back to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and their small village here," Brown said.

The Chapin Building is one of the last historical buildings left in town.

"We’re excited we still have the building," Brown said. "It’s probably the oldest commercial building in Post Falls."

In the 1950s, Art Berard opened a grocery store in the building, where Patzer, who lived down the street, worked as a box boy when he was a teenager.

He didn't work for paychecks.

"I worked for a box of groceries,” Patzer said.

The Chapin Building was then used as a laundromat, one with leaky washing machines that rotted out some of the wooden floor.

"They leaked up a storm," Fredekind said. "That’s why the floor had to be replaced in different places."

In 1979, the building was sold to the city of Post Falls and used as the police station, then the parks and recreation building. When parks and rec moved into a new building, the Chapin Building became the historical society's home.

"This was also the bus stop," Fredekind said. "They had a light outside, and if they had somebody here that wanted to catch the bus to Spokane, they’d turn that light on and the bus driver would stop here.

"This was the heart of town back in those days. It was less than 1,000 people in Post Falls."

Brown said collecting the stories and memories of this building and the people associated with it is increasingly important as Post Falls' population booms.

"We’re happy recognizing all these little threads. We’re trying to preserve and connect people with those threads so they can feel the march of time," she said. “We had some old-timers in here the other day who said, ‘We can’t recognize the town, everything is changing so quickly.' It’s important we connect those dots because our newer residents, if they don’t know the history, they can’t feel it, they can’t tie themselves to where they’re living."

She said history is a gift from one generation to the next.

"If we don't share it and get it out, how are they going to know it?" Brown said.

Email Brown at pfhistorical@roadrunner.com to submit Chapin Building memories, stories and artifacts.

Visit the Post Falls Museum during the Post Falls Historical Society Fall Fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Saturday. Admission is $5. The event will have a silent auction, a cakewalk, games, handheld Frito pie and, of course, the museum's collection of Post Falls history.