Beardmore Is Still Standing

Priest River tycoon Charles Beardmore wanted his building to last forever.

Built of twice-fired terra cotta brick, and finished in 1922, the two-story building housed a theater, a ballroom, a dentist’s office, seven apartments, a butcher shop, a beauty shop and a hardware store.

From the second-floor corner office, Beardmore could survey the Kaniksu Mountain Range and his other holdings: a sawmill, timberlands, floating logs, a coach line, and the St. Elmo Hotel where he and his wife Lucy and three surviving children lived.

In 1900, when Beardmore bicycled from Wisconsin to make a homestead claim in Idaho, the population of Priest River approached 600. Now, on the cusp of the year 2000, the population stands below 1,600. The timber industry is endangered, no river pigs float logs to the sawmills, and the St. Elmo Hotel has been replaced by a pizza parlor. But thanks to Nancy and B.C. Turner, the building called the Beardmore Block still stands.

Consideration had once upon a time been given to condemning the building. But in 1994, when Nancy saw a “For Sale” sign go up, she said to her husband: “Wouldn’t you love to buy that building?”

“You gotta be crazy,” B.C. replied.

But they purchased the Beardmore Block, saved it from demolition, and became the fourth owners of a building that is now on the National Historical Register.

“We had small means and big dreams,” Nancy said. They also had enough expertise and determination to carry them through the long, difficult process of renovation.

Nancy and B.C. met 46 years ago in Alabama. After B.C. enlisted in the Navy, they and their two children started a series of moves that took them all over the United States, Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and Japan.

After the Vietnam War, which included 300 missions as a flight engineer, B.C. eventually was posted in California’s San Joaquin Valley. He and Nancy bought a 1905 turkey hatchery, which they remodeled into a beautiful home.

When B.C. retired from the military, the Turners sold the home and moved to Spokane to run an oil and fuel analysis business. They worked night and day, made it a success and retired for a second time.

Then they moved to Priest River and immediately fell in love with a wonderful group of people who were promoting Priest River restoration and revitalization.

Nancy had grown up watching the preservation of Montgomery’s antebellum mansions. She served as Alabama’s assistant secretary of state with jurisdiction over old land records and government surveys, as well as corporate records. She learned how to read codes and politicians, both important qualifications for her work in Priest River.

B.C. knew how to read architectural drawings, had a handyman’s thumb, and shared his wife’s love of history. He was appointed to Priest River’s Planning and Zoning Commission and now serves as chairman.

In spite of two heart surgeries, B.C. undertook the supervision and overhaul of the Beardmore Block. Before they started on the inside, the brick exterior needed to be cleaned, the roof repaired, the drains replaced, and every window frame in the building needed to be rebuilt.

B.C. did such a fine job of building new wooden sashes that he received requests from around the state to help repair windows for other historic buildings.

The renovation has not been easy, and is not yet finished, but the Beardmore Block is a long way from that moment when Nancy and B.C. stood on the second floor a month or so after they bought it.

“I watched the rain pour through the roof to the second floor, the first floor, and into the basement,” Nancy said. “And I stood there and bawled.”

But they knew they had done the right thing. “The historic area is what has saved this town,” Nancy said. “The historic buildings have been the resources for restoring downtown areas.”

“Otherwise Priest River would have moved up to the highway and become another strip mall,” B.C. said.

The Turners credit City Clerk Doug Hooper for his support of historic Priest River. They mention many others, including Diane Mercer and Marylyn Cork, both of whom recently received Orchid Awards from The Idaho Historic Preservation Council.

For the first time in the 27-year history of the Council, the Orchids and Onions Awards Banquet was held outside of Boise. It was hosted in Priest River by Nancy and B.C. Turner, who won orchids in 1997 for their work on the Beardmore Block.

“These historic buildings are the inheritance for the children,” Nancy said.

Charles Beardmore, who died in 1936, the same year Nancy was born, would no doubt agree.