Then & Now photos: Hayden Lake Country Club
It has been the in spot for over a century
The Hayden Lake Country Club, which started out as a collection of cabins on a beach on the lake’s west side, has long been the place to see and be seen for the well-to-do of Kootenai and Spokane counties. After opening in 1907, the idyllic setting – with the first 18-hole golf course in Idaho – drew people from around the region. Visitors rode the electric railroad from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene and then took a spur line to Hayden Lake to eat in the Kirtland Cutter-designed clubhouse, play golf on the course designed by J.C. Olmstead or boat on the placid waters. President William Howard Taft said he enjoyed eating a dinner of wild game in the clubhouse in 1909. Bing Crosby became a member in the 1940s and lived next door part of each year. The facility was originally called the Bozanta Tavern and, later, the Coeur d’Alene Country Club at Hayden Lake before changing to the current name in 1985.
On the Web: Find more historic photos paired with present-day scenes at spokesman.com/then-and-now.
–Jesse Tinsley