Cultural Center Took Time, Toil, Money, Heart Six Months And $65,000 Became 7 Years, $250,000

If people could see the future, Coeur d’Alene probably wouldn’t have a cultural center now.

Organizers no doubt would have avoided seven years of begging, burnout and bureaucratic hurdles, and the Coeur d’Alene Cultural Center wouldn’t be throwing open its doors to the public today.

Thank goodness for ignorance.

“It’s been a learning experience,” center president Nat Adams said with a wry smile. “I learned the power of undying optimism and how to get along with people a lot better than ever before.”

The historic brick building in City Park now welcomes visitors with two arches of personalized bricks in its entry. Rounded green doors open to a new cement floor, whitewashed interior brick walls and ceilings 25 feet high.

Four workrooms are ready for classes, tile art hangs from the walls and the main hall is primed for an exhibit. It’s come a long way.

“It was an eyesore,” said Marcy Horner, one of the center’s first board members. “I gave up hope for awhile because every time we turned around it cost another $30,000.”

Engineers initially said the century-old substation, that provided power for an electrified railroad, would cost $65,000 to renovate into a cultural center in City Park, but the final tab is $250,000. The six-month project stretched into seven years and burned out dozens of volunteers including three board presidents along the way.

In the end, the community rallied, and at least 25 businesses jumped in to finish the job. But it was an exhausting finish.

Artist Kathy Hosack spearheaded the project and wisely linked it to Idaho’s centennial celebration planned for the following year.

Nothing went according to plan.

First the roof defied patching and needed replacing. Then workers discovered a tunnel under the building, which meant support columns grew 5 feet longer. Stricter earthquake-safety standards were passed, and the old building needed more work than ever.

“A lot of people got discouraged, bored. We weren’t moving fast enough,” said Sue Sausser, the only board member who stuck out all seven years.

Sausser isn’t sure what kept her going when everyone else was overwhelmed.

“We just kept getting so close, so I thought I’d hang on a little longer,” she said. “It was such a good project.”

As the center lagged, the public began losing interest, and money became scarce. The city tied the center’s hands with a complicated lease agreement that was panned by financiers.

By 1991, Hosack was battle weary and handed over the reins to Lorna Campbell.

Campbell recognized the public’s disillusionment with the money-pit and shifted the emphasis to programs. She believed people needed something out of the center to uncork a new gush of interest.

Historical films and craft workshops attracted the public and thrilled artists. But people still ignored the building and Campbell was having a tough time finding enough space in town for continual programs.

Finally in 1993, Campbell convinced Adams, her lawyer-neighbor, to take over the project.

Adams had youth, energy and a pipeline to the executive world. He wasn’t convinced the cultural center had a chance, but decided the historic building was worth saving.

He spent his first month learning to work with people.

“I got really angry with some people I felt should’ve been there for us,” he said. “But anger doesn’t work and optimism does.”

Adams found his savior in Youth for Christ. The organization offered to make the building occupant-safe, in exchange for its use for summer day camp.

Several of Adams’ board members didn’t like religious involvement in the center and quit. But Adams, counsel for Hecla Mining Co., drafted an agreement he believed protected the center’s integrity.

The Rotary Club that Adams belongs to followed Youth for Christ’s offer with a $20,000 pledge. Adams doubled that with matching grants.

Then, last January, North Idaho College’s electrician students wired the center so power was available for work. Adams began bargaining with contractors to finish the building and gratefully took every small offer he got.

O’Day Custom Construction stepped in last April, and Adams began to believe the center would make it after all.

“We had one battle cry: Get the doors open and the lights on and the rest will come,” Adams said as he celebrated his 34th birthday with a handful of M&Ms in the center’s office.

Adams was the fuel that gave the project its final push, but the center is really a tribute to a tenacious community, said Horner.

“That’s a city building the community renovated piece by piece into a cultural center,” she said. “It’s like we built City Hall from scratch.”

Adams’ right hand for the past two years, Kathi Pocklington, is the center’s executive director and will serve as the new board president.

She wants the center to offer classes for adults and children in the performing and fine arts and in science. She’s waiting for the local Mr. Wizard to come forward.

The first classes will start later this fall, after she finds teachers, she said.

“This place was never meant to be a gallery,” she said, sizing up the rough brick walls in the center’s Rotary Hall. “This is a place for regular folks, not a place to be intimidated by the arts but included in art.”

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