Sandpoint ...a walk through history. Preview

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300-302 N. First Ave. Panida Theater

A Spanish Mission style structure, built for $70,000 in 1927 by F.C. Weskil, first opened its doors as a vaudeville and cinema venue. The entrance fee was a bottle cap, and by the 1940s had increased to 9 cents. Dedicated to the people of the PANhandle of IDAho, the theater was given the name PANIDA. It was the first building in Sandpoint built of reinforced concrete. The theater had a unique “Cry Room” where mothers with babies could sit in comfort behind a glass window to view performances and films with audio piped into the room. In 1985 the Panida was slated to be destroyed. Three local women, the “Panida Moms,” raised the money to save it. The theater received the Orchid Award from Preservation Idaho in 1986.

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301 N. First Ave. Northern Mercantile

Built in 1905 by J.K. Dow for $17,000, this two story brick building is slightly off square, following the diagonal line of Main Street. Unusual for the time, it had its own private sewer system and electricity. The second floor was dedicated to office space and the ground floor was used as a dry goods store. The building once housed the post office, Sandpoint’s first radio station, a hardware store and a drug store.National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)

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N. Second and Main Farmin School

The first school district in Sand Point was created in 1883 and catered to gold mining families. The railroad had reached Sand Point bringing more settlers. In 1885, the first school with 7 pupils was held in the White Swan, a converted saloon. By 1892, there were 28 students. In 1897, the 2 room Central School was built on the downtown block donated by L.D. Farmin. The population of Sandpoint by 1902 had grown to 6,000 and plans developed in 1906 to construct a new three-story brick school to house the first high school and all the lower grades. It opened on August 9, 1907, and served Sandpoint until it was demolished in 1970.

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110 Main St. Sandpoint City Hall

Built on property donated by L.D. Farmin, the building was originally graced with a roof cupola housing a bell and later a siren. Up until the 1970s, the curfew siren blew each evening at 10 pm to ensure teenagers were off the streets. The fire station occupied the space where the vehicle bay doors can still be seen. The building also once served as the city library.

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200 Main St. Knights of Pythias

The wooden building behind the streetcar in the photograph is the original Knights of Pythias Lodge. This building was moved to the adjacent property to the north and in 1909 the current building, constructed of precast cement block formed at the local Hunt Factory, replaced it. For years, fire-doors connected the two buildings. The ground floor was occupied by Graves Furniture company and the second floor housed the K.P. Lodge.

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314 N. Second Ave. Elks Lodge

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.) building was constructed in 1936 following an original 1920 Art Deco design.The creative design had a small courtyard in the front of the building. B.P.O.E. is on the marker stone above the door. The Elks Convention Parades were a highlight of life in Sandpoint.

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201-203 Cedar St. Thomason Brothers Hardware and Furniture

Constructed in 1904 for $30,000, it was the largest building in Sandpoint, built with unique architectural features typical of buildings of this era. At one point in its history, it was converted to house Idaho First National Bank. The Masonic Lodge has been the upstairs occupant for much of its history.

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419 N. Second Ave. Sandpoint Federal Building

Built in 1928 to house the U.S. Post Office, U.S. Forest Service, IRS, Civil Service and military recruitment offices. In 1973, it was listed on the NRHP for its architectural significance and detailing representing the Spanish Revival style. In 1967 the city library moved to this location. When the new library was built in 2000, Sandpoint residents transferred thousands of books by forming a one mile book brigade to the new library location on Division Street.

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514 N. Second Ave. Page Hospital

Dr. Ones F. Page built the Page Hospital, in 1907 in the current location of Bonner General Health. The three-floor building with a full basement housed 27 patients and had steam heat throughout with sewage connection through a private line to the creek. Dr. Page offered annual insurance at $12 per patient that covered “hospitalization, surgery, medicine and medical treatment with no additional costs.” Refurbished and renamed City Hospital in 1908 and without an elevator, patients were transported up the steep stairs on gurneys. The hospital was torn down in 1951 to make way for the new infirmary, purchased from Farragut Naval Station, which was shipped up the lake in sections on three barges.

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506 N. Second Ave. Page House

Arriving in Sandpoint in 1900 from Pullman, WA, Dr. Ones F. Page, the company doctor for the Humbird Lumber Company, designed and built the current house in 1917. Constructed of local old growth larch with ‘state of the art design’, Dr. Page had his patient surgery in the room to the left of the front door. The home was frequently used to house overflow patients from the adjacent Page Hospital. With the family cow and chickens that were “kept out back,” his family supplied fresh milk, cream and eggs to the hospital.

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109 Cedar St. Farmin Building

Built circa 1909 by L.D. and Earl Farmin, of precast cement block and with decorative scrolled brackets below the roof, excavation of the building’s foundation was halted as quicksand was uncovered. Pilings were driven through the quicksand to bedrock to secure the building. Originally built as their offices it later housed a bank, telephone exchange, drug store, millinery shop and ladies’ clothing store.

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334 N. First Ave. Cedar Street Bridge

As early as 1893, there was a low footbridge spanning Sand Creek that connected the old part of the town of Sand Point on the east side of Sand Creek to the new town on the west side of the creek. It was often washed out and needed constant repair. In 1906, L.D. Farmin built a wider “2 wagon width” bridge; thereby creating a safer bridge with better access to the train depot. The bridge was rebuilt in 1933 and again in the early 1980s when the current bridge opened as a public market. In the early years, Sand Creek was the summer camping and fishing area of the Kalispel tribe of Native Americans.

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329 N. First Ave. Northern Idaho News

One of the oldest, 1915 frame-built structures in the Historic District, it originally had a brick veneer façade that is now covered with stucco. The foundation had similar problems to the Farmin Building and also sits on pilings. Home to the Northern Idaho News, it housed a gasoline powered printing press. The second floor was occupied by Dr. Page, the local dentist whose office equipment is preserved at the local museum.

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327 N. First Ave. Traders Bank

Built in 1906, this two story building was purpose built as a bank and dry goods store. Ole and Hannah Jennestad opened ‘Jennestad’s Good Clothing’ store in 1900 at 317 First Avenue opposite the Panida Theater. Many of Ole’s customers were loggers who couldn’t always get to town, so Ole traveled to the logging camps with his horse drawn wagon full of heavy wool working pants, flannel shirts and woolen socks to sell. In 1908, Ole partnered with his employee Chris Larson to open the Jennestad and Larson Clothiers located in this building. By 1940 the partnership had dissolved and Larson’s Men’s and Boys’ store occupied the site. Jennestad’s also remained in business in a new location and Ole was tasked with the responsibility of outfitting 750 prisoners of war located at Farragut Naval Station with boots and socks.

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321-323 N. First Ave. Travis and Hunt Buildings

These two buildings, built in 1906 costing $8,000 each, were identical in appearance until 1909 when the Hunt Building (323) was remodeled adding two more windows to the upper story and using cement block to contrast with the brick. D.E. Brown’s Jewelry Store shared the ground floor space with Nieman’s Royal Sweet Shop that by 1930 became the Peter Pan Confectionery operated by Mrs. Patterson. The Travis Building’s (321) ground floor housed the Star Meat Market which supplied fresh meat to logging and remote mining camps, while the second floor had a lodge hall that was later converted to a hotel and apartments.

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319 N. First Ave. Bigelow Building

Built in 1909 by P.E. Bigelow who financed the construction of the building bearing his name, the ground floor housed the Cranston Brothers Hardware store till the early 1930s.

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307–311 N. First Ave. Bernd Building

William August Bernd, born in Bernburg, Germany, arrived in Sandpoint in 1903. W.A. Bernd, 23 and unmarried, opened a dry goods store before commissioning the substantial two-story brick Bernd building in 1907. The second floor was a fourteen-bed hotel, while the ground floor housed a dry goods store and grocery store. Circa 1913, Bernd married Sarah L. Hughes and they lived in the hotel. The building has a unique upper façade, decorated by eight evenly spaced round arched windows and accented by a raised band of repetitive arches. The building was placed on the NRHP in 1983.

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305 N. First Ave. Sandpoint Drug Company

Part of the Historic District, this 1905 building was designed by J.K. Dow for owner C. R. Ross. The upper story contains two pair of arched windows joined by a continuous concrete sill that terminates in an elaborate scroll at each end. A raised brick band accents the window arches and a cornice band of corbeled brick pendants tops the façade. The roofline, the only one in the district which is not horizontal, comes to a flattened peak.

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223 N. First Ave. Commercial Building

This building, dating back to 1915, was originally the Saratoga Bar during the rough and wild era of Sandpoint. It later housed a cigar shop, jewelry store, a barber shop, a grocery store, a doctor’s office, a café and a music store.

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219 N. First Ave. 219 Lounge

A long-time tavern in Sandpoint, it was formerly known as The Diamond, and a diamond design can be seen on the front façade. A recent renovation uncovered murals that were painted by locally famed artist Gene Hayes. Hayes, a WWII veteran, lost his lower right arm and hand in a feed mill accident and transferred his painting skills to his left hand. He was Sandpoint’s premier business sign painter and artist for many years.

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21. 207 N. First Ave. Pastime Sports Shop and Pastime Café

This building complex has held many businesses over the years, including a notorious gambling hall, but was primarily known as the Pastime Sports Shop and the Pastime Café. The Pastime Café opened in 1941 and was a favorite meeting place for locals, being well-known for its horseshoe counter and strong black (camp) coffee.

22

202 N. First Ave

Built as one of the many saloons in Sandpoint and operated by Bill Abbott until 1910 when Idaho went “dry,” the building has had various occupants. Used as a bakery for many years, it later became Sandpoint Saddlery, where cowboy boots were made and repaired.

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101 N. First Ave. Bonner Meat Company

Built in 1908 as the Bonner Meat Company, this was a central location for local farmers to supply bountiful amounts of livestock. Providing meat both locally and regionally, the company prided itself on being an upscale meat market. The two-story brick building cost $75,000 and was equipped with an elevator, modern refrigeration, huge marble counters and tiled floors and walls.

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105 S. First Ave. Fidelity Trust Building

Built in 1906 and one of the first brick buildings in this section of the town it originally housed the C.J. Shoemaker Real Estate and Abstract (Title) Office. The second floor offices were occupied by Attorney Allen Asher and the Tigglebeck Engineering Company. This is the home of a resident ghost that walks the upper floors and often passes the kitchen window. Could it be Asher or Tigglebeck?