Millwood Siblings Work On Walking-Tour Booklet

The operators of the Corner Door Cafe in Millwood are taking a walk down memory lane.

And they’re hoping other people will want to come along.

The siblings who own the cafe at Argonne Road and Dalton Avenue - Bobbie Beese, brother Greg Mott and sister Betsy Mott - have been working on a 30-page booklet for a self-guided walking tour that highlights Millwood’s history.

They hope to publish it by Christmas.

“It’s still in its rough draft now,” Beese said.

The booklet will describe and contain photographs of 40 homes and buildings in an area bounded roughly by Argonne and Sargent roads and Liberty and Euclid avenues.

Most of the homes were constructed in the 1920s and ‘30s by executives and workers at the Inland Empire Paper Co. mill, which gave the town its name.

The three researchers have spent hundreds of hours digging through old newspaper clippings, conducting interviews and collecting old photographs.

They’re still searching for pictures and people with stories to tell about Millwood’s past.

The photographs and the rough draft they’ve already compiled have helped jog a few old-timers’ memories.

“A lot of times, nobody knows where to start talking,” Greg said. “This is a good way to get people started. Their memories are sparked by the pictures of the houses.”

The building that houses their cafe and bookstore was built in 1925. It originally housed a pharmacy on the first floor and a dentist’s office upstairs. The Corner Door still serves milkshakes at the original drug-store soda fountain.

Beese and her brother and sister hope their walking-tour booklet will be the first step toward getting the area designated a national historic district.

“I’m so thrilled they’re doing it,” said Nancy Compau, who runs the Northwest history room at the Spokane Public Library. “It’s a lot of work and labor of love. They are doing a first-class job.”

Beese believes the walking-tour booklet will help generate interest in the town and perhaps even help she and her siblings collect more information about Millwood’s past.

“We hope to attract more people with the brochure,” Beese said. “It’s kind of like priming the pump.”

Millwood Mayor Jeanne Batson, whose father helped build the paper mill in 1910, applauds their work. But she has always known Millwood to be a special place.

“I roller skated and rode bikes down those roads,” Batson said. “I knew everyone on the block. It’s nothing new to me.”

, DataTimes