Rathdrum: a fine name for a fine town

RATHDRUM – The name Rathdrum has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Although I live in Coeur d’Alene, I hate the name. For one, it sounds French. For another, you must spell it to anyone you give your address to – even if they live there, in many cases.

Rathdrum, though, has a rustic, Western sound to it that not only makes a fine town name, but also sounds good when combined with “prairie” and “mountain,” as in Rathdrum Prairie and Rathdrum Mountain.

It’s also not a common name. In fact, there’s only one other Rathdrum in the world: Rathdrum, County Wicklow, in the southeast corner of Ireland, 40 miles south of Dublin. In Irish: Ráth Droma, Contae Cill Mhantáin. In Ireland you’ll see the name spelled both ways, English and Irish.

Kootenai County’s Rathdrum was originally named Westwood, but a postal bureaucrat in the early 1880s determined there was already a Westwood in the territory and rejected the name. A local businessman who was born in Rathdrum, Ireland, suggested the alternative. I wonder if the Irish Rathdrumites have any idea.

There are similarities between the two areas. Both are agriculturally-oriented small towns – although our Rathdrum is rapidly outgrowing that title – both are bisected by a badly misaligned highway system, and both are, or have been, a railway hub.

The population of Ráth Droma was nearly 1,400 in 2002, just a bit more than our Rathdrum’s historical population highs during several boom times. Rathdrum, Idaho, was at about 5,000 people in 2002 and is currently up to about 6,500.

Thus, Rathdrum is the fastest-growing city in North Idaho with a 225 percent population increase in the past 17 years, and a current annual growth rate of nine percent. At its present rate of growth, Rathdrum would double its populace every eight years.

This is frightening growth to a city that considers “small town feel” to be one of its key assets. On its homepage, www.rathdrum.org, you’ll read these descriptions that Rathdrum has for itself: “… offers ‘small town’ living at its best,” “… has a ‘neighborhood’ atmosphere yet is only minutes from big city amenities,” “… small town charm and friendliness.”

The 2000 census found only 4,816 people in Rathdrum, forming 1,570 households: 54 percent of which had kids, 63 percent of which were married couples, 14 percent of which were individuals, and four percent of which were seniors living alone.

Almost a third of the population was underage, two thirds was of age, and 5 percent was overage. Surprisingly, the median age was just 29 years. Rathdrum is a young community. Among adults, it’s also a female-dominated community with only 96 males for every 100 females.

Obviously growth is a big issue in Rathdrum. And to some extent, it’s a matter of eat or be eaten. The way Post Falls is galloping to the north, the two cities may abut one day.

In 2005, Rathdrum issued a Comprehensive Plan for the city for the next 10 to 15 years. Obviously, the problem of retaining its small-town feel in the face of such growth – to “a population of 10-15,000 people” – is a major concern of the plan.

Also of concern in the plan was what could be called quality of life issues for those already living there. If you have driven through Rathdrum, you know what a mess state highways 41 and 53 make of the town.

If you have attempted to move across town from south to north, or back, you know what a mess railroad right of ways make of the town. These transportation issues concern both safety and convenience.

Another primary issue identified in the plan is Rathdrum’s “weak sense of community.” Most Rathdrumites do not live, work and shop all in the same place as one usually expects of a small-town community. People sleep there, or pass through there on there way to work or to shop, and that’s about all.

One hundred and forty-six years ago a fur trapper built a cabin at the foot of Rathdrum Mountain, at the edge of the Rathdrum Prairie. Over the next 20 years – in a typically Western pattern of rapid growth involving the Pony Express, a railroad baron and a ranch – a town was born in 1881.

Rathdrum housed the county courthouse, and jail 10 years later, and grew to contain more than 1,000 residents. Typical of Western towns, it has had a roller-coaster ride of growth and decline as times and resources have changed.

The town has endured three major fires, being bypassed by a railroad carrying ore out of the Silver Valley, and the loss of the county seat to Coeur d’Alene in 1908. It has endured as one of the oldest towns in North Idaho, an area where more towns have disappeared than currently flourish.

So, I guess that problems could be worse – have been worse. Rathdrum is a big little town with some big city challenges ahead. However, it has a name that endures and sounds great.