Old Shoshone Courthouse To Rise Again County Insurance To Help Rebuild Fallen Structure

Like the lead character in some morality play, the old Shoshone County Courthouse couldn’t be saved until it was destroyed.

A year ago this time, the Murray Historical Society in this tiny mountain town was struggling to restore the 1884 structure.

“It was in horrible shape,” member Dave Miller recalled Thursday. “It would have cost a fortune to fix it.”

Things got worse last February. The vacant building collapsed under the weight of snow.

Six weeks later, the drama took a brighter turn. The historical society got its first inkling that the county property was insured.

On Thursday, architect Doug Long brought to Murray a giant version of the $78,377 check issued by the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program.

“It’s enough to do the framing and a complete redesign,” said Shoshone County Commissioner Jack King, chairman of the historical society.

The society is working hard to raise more money. It will need a total of $150,000 to complete the inside and build a replica of the assay lab behind the courthouse, King said. That’s where miners brought their gold before it was stored in the courthouse vault.

The brick vault, with its black metal doors, is all that remains standing. A mason has begun rebuilding its domed top, which collapsed along with the two-story building.

The building, which eventually became a tavern, will be rebuilt to look as it did in 1885. That’s when it began its four-year stint as a courthouse, before the county seat was moved to Wallace.

Just how did it look then? Was the chimney always there? Which openings were doors and which were windows? Long would love to know those answers.

The Post Falls architect has been doing his best. He’s studied old pictures, read historical accounts and relied heavily on architectural drawings that were done for earlier restoration efforts.

“The building collapsing was a little bit of a godsend,” he said. “Rehabilitating a building is probably more difficult than reconstructing one.

“We just want to make it look like it used to look. In rehabbing, you have to use as many of the original materials as possible.”

The design work has been fun at times, Long said, but frustrating most of the time. For example, he was excited to find windows that had somehow survived the collapse.

“I could see how they were made, measure them up,” he said. “I got all that down and then found out that those windows were stacked on the second floor, and weren’t part of the building.

“You can make some pretty bad assumptions.”

The concrete foundation and wood floor are intact. Framing will be put out to bid next week, Long said.

When it’s finished, the building will be used as a community hall.

Donations for the project can be sent to the Murray Historical Society care of Shoshone County, 700 Bank St., Murray, ID 83873.

Anyone donating $500 or more will get a gold-plated silver coin, King said. It will feature the Murray courthouse on one side, and the Spragpole Museum on the other.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: DONATIONS Donations for the project can be sent to the Murray Historical Society care of Shoshone County, 700 Bank St., Murray, Id., 83873. Anyone donating $500 or more will get a gold-plated silver coin, King said. It will feature the Murray courthouse on one side, and the Spragpole Museum on the other.