Remembering old Worley

Driving through Worley today, it may not be obvious, but Worley was once a bustling town.

The townsite of Worley was platted in 1908 and named for Charles O. Worley, an esteemed Indian Agent appointed to the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. Charles Worley and his family settled in Rockford, Wash., in 1882 where he worked as a carpenter.

Having learned engineering in Kansas, he would be appointed to the position of engineer for the government sawmills on the reservation and Indian sub-agent by the turn of the century. In 1905, he received the federal appointment as supervisor of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. He resigned in 1909 at age 55.

By 1910, about 40 pioneer families were farming or working near Worley. Martin Walser opened the first merchandising store in 1911 and his daughter, Zula, was postmistress. In 1913, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound railroad was built through Worley with connections to Plummer and Spokane.

Prior to the railroad, if pioneers needed supplies, they either walked or rode a horse 11 miles to Rockford or 6 miles to Farmington Landing, where they could take a boat to Coeur d’Alene. It wasn’t until 1927 when U.S. 95 would be extended through Worley.

While much of Kootenai County had electric lights in the early 1900s, Worley remained without until 1923. The first school, built in 1912, was heated by a wood stove and used lanterns for light. The first high school, a two-story structure with clapboard siding, was built in 1925 and later used as a roller-skating rink after a new concrete school for grades 1-12 was built on the other end of town in 1939.

Many folks who lived around Spokane and Coeur d’Alene may remember that two-story school building from the 1950s and '60s when Leo Fleming attached a single-story café to the old gymnasium and used it as a dance hall and restaurant for serving Leo’s famous smorgasbord dinners on Saturday nights. Although Leo’s café has been gone for years, the old two-story school building still stands like a stalwart reminder of days gone by as drivers enter Worley on U.S. 95 from the northwest.

On the opposite side of the highway, an old, metal, quonset hut harkens visitors to the life of Worley’s pioneer farmers. This building is the former Worley Grange, built in 1959. American granges became an advocate for agriculture, education and social activities to build a sense of community.

Visit the past through exhibits and photos at the Worley Museum, open this summer Tuesday 10 to 2 and first and third Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m.

Appointments: 208-686-1573.

To see exhibits about the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, forestry, logging, steamboats and a special exhibit about how North Idaho was affected by WWII, visit the Museum of North Idaho in downtown Coeur d’Alene near the waterfront, open seven days a week 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Info: www.museumni.org

This story has been updated to reflect a correction about Leo's café.