HISTORIC PRESERVATION: It’s a team effort

The Johnston Building at Second and Sherman has just been demolished, but two important pieces of its long history survive.

The building was erected in 1905, and while most of the structure had been drastically remodeled by the time it was torn down, it still contained two stately vault doors from its early days as a banking institution.

Those two vault doors and their frames were successfully salvaged from the Johnston Building on Wednesday thanks to the help of John Swallow and his sons, Craig Turner (assisting the Hagadone Corporation), Elder Demolition LLC crew (sub to Garco), Greg Peck, and of course the willingness and partnership of the Hagadone Corporation to have their crews assist with the salvage effort.

So thank you to all! While the building itself may be gone, its legacy lives on in the form of the two century-old bank vault doors.

WALTER BURNS, Chair

Historic Preservation Commission

Coeur d’Alene