Search For Potential Home Continuing

North Idaho newcomers always have shown keen interest in preserving the history, and have saved and valued materials which have become parts of the many collections, public and private, in the area.

The Museum of North Idaho in downtown Coeur d’Alene has served as the historical center of this activity, as well as being the linchpin for all of the other museums and historical societies in its region, which includes Kootenai and Benewah counties and those portions of Shoshone County drained by the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe Rivers.

But the Museum of North Idaho is cramped for space, both for its many displays and exhibitions, and for its substantial research holdings. The Museum of North Idaho has been located in a 4,000-square-foot building at 115 Northwest Boulevard since 1979.

Since the facility opened, the Coeur d’Alene region has more than doubled its population and the Museum of North Idaho’s programs and collections have expanded substantially, but the size of the structure has not.

The master plan options submitted for community review last year by Walker-Macy featured several choices for locations for a new, larger museum, but the best location for the site seems to be, according to museum director Dorothy Dahlgren, a spot just north of where the building stands now, at the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Mullan Avenue.

This keeps the museum in the heart of Coeur d’Alene, and near valuable parking, Dahlgren said. The museum reflects the entire North Idaho area, so a setting in Coeur d’Alene is not automatic, but downtown is a magnet for tourism, and many visitors over the years have learned much of what they have come to value about our local heritage from touring the museum.

Despite the many tourists who visit, Dahlgren said, the museum’s primary business is research for residents and scholars, and for visitors who want to look up family members who once lived here. There is a misperception that museums are for visitors, but that is not true in general and certainly not true for the Museum of North Idaho. Museums are like icebergs. Nine-tenths of their substance is hidden from view.

The museum serves the needs of students and media people who need background for a story, for researchers needing facts and figures on various topics, and for armchair historians who like to dig into history.

The museum has school records, marriage and divorce information, voting histories, maps, thousands of photographs covering the entire 20th century, books, pamphlets and articles on Idaho history, and substantial coverage of parades, scouting camps, hydroplane racing, and many other activities specific to the area, including many records and details of the Forest Service’s important contributions to North Idaho development.

The museum at present has 20,000 historic photos, a seven-fold increase from 20 years ago, and 7,000 artifacts. There are more than 400 books in its library, and 180 maps. In 1980 there were only 25 of each.

Average attendance at the museum has been about 6,500 for the past several years. More than 1,000 students visited the museum with their classes this school year.

The museum is closed for the season, and will reopen in April, although the library remains open for research year-round, while work on a potential new home also continues.

In a bold start to achieve a new facility, the University of Idaho’s Interior Architecture Program has taken on the museum as its semester project. Nine architectural students, with their professor Rula Awwad-Rafferty, visited museum facilities last month, and later produced a conceptual phase presentation in Moscow. Some of their ideas included the museum as a gateway to both the city and the area’s past, a statement of pride and prestige for the Coeur d’Alene region, a gathering place, a building that would be an icon and feature dynamic architecture.

The students conducted a town-hall meeting at Coeur d’Alene’s First Presbyterian Church on Nov. 15 to show their plans and receive public input.