Huckleberries Monday column:

On July 4, 1890, soldiers from Fort Sherman gathered with Coeur d’Alene’s rough-and-tumble residents for a parade and picnic, games, swimming, fireworks and maybe “base ball.” Sorta like today.

Idaho had become a state the day before. The two sides met under the trees on the southeast corner of Fort Sherman’s grounds. Today, Coeur d’Alene residents call the place City Park.

In a 200-page book to be published in early May, landscape architect Jon Mueller provides the back story of Coeur d’Alene’s first park. Jon explains how this hallowed ground survived the development craze of the Lake City’s early days to become the cornerstone of its modern park system. The book is jammed with photos of the park’s bygone days. Jon, a Coeur d’Alene native and former president of the American Society of Landscape Architects, has had the itch to produce this book for some time.

In “Private Park/Public Park: A Story of Coeur d’Alene and Its First Park,” you’ll learn: How many of Coeur d’Alene’s community celebrations came to be. Of the many significant visitors who visited Coeur d’Alene from 1877 to 1919. How the early-20th-century version of social media – the postcard – was used to promote the area. And how the more cultured soldiers of the fort helped tame the rough timber town that grew up around it.

Stay tuned. More here.

---

---