It’s not Athens, but Athol history still interesting

An Atholian, I learned recently, is a resident of Athol, Idaho. My spell-checker keeps insisting I mean “Athenian,” but I don’t. Athens, after all, was the cradle of civilization, the original seat of democracy, the birthplace of great philosophers. That doesn’t sound anything like Athol, Idaho.

Despite my computer’s confusion, Athol does have an interesting history. It just never managed to become the Athens of North Idaho.

The city of Athol: I’ve always either made fun of it or just driven through it to get to somewhere else – mostly Sandpoint or Farragut State Park. Somehow, though, hearing that the residents of Athol are Atholians made me think differently. That’s when I looked into the history and demographics of Athol.

Thanks to Wikipedia, the U. S. Census Bureau and Robert Singletary’s compilation of his writings on local history, “Kootenai Chronicles: A History of Kootenai County,” I found out a lot about Athol.

Looking at the 2000 census I see that Athol was seventh for population of the 14 cities in the county the census recognizes. There are another nine named places that kind of seem like towns, but I guess don’t count. Actually, the parts of Kootenai County outside cities made the second-largest population mass of 36,657 residents in 2000. All the cities combined had 72,028 people.

Of course Kootenai County’s megalopolis of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum and Dalton Gardens was the largest population center in the county and those five cities were the five largest in the county. Spirit Lake was sixth with about twice Athol’s 676 people.

According to Singletary’s account, Athol has been quite the hub in the past. It’s in the center of an oval that touches Sandpoint, Bayview, Coeur d’Alene and Spirit Lake. At one time, when it was still a good thing to have, Athol had two railroads passing through.

The prairie that was to become Athol was first settled in 1892. Being the northern part of the Rathdrum Prairie, it was to become the bread basket of the area, and was a thriving business center by 1903, serving mining and timber industries that were flourishing around the region.

In 1905 the Corbin Ranch was situated near Athol and became the largest sugar beet producer in the Northwest. Athol was incorporated into a village in 1909 and remained a major agricultural center until the Depression in the 1930s. I’m not sure it’s changed a lot since then.

Actually, that’s not true. Athol has changed a lot over the last 35 years. Again using census data, only 14 percent of the buildings in Athol in 2000 were built prior to 1970. There were two building booms since then. In the 1970s, 37 percent of the current buildings were constructed and 41 percent were built in the 1990s. Only 8 percent were built in the 1980s. I guess that period was a bit of another depression for the region as a whole.

From what I read online, Athol is currently notable for Silverwood theme park. I don’t really understand that. Athol city limits surround less than a square mile (0.8 square mile). The only thing the two places have in common is they both sit along the west side of the same highway, U.S. 95.

Athol’s 676 people in 2000 included 186 families that lived in 255 households. Of the adults, 61 percent were married, 15 percent were divorced and 20 percent never married. I don’t know what the other 4 percent were doing. For every 100 Atholian women there were 106 Atholian men. Middle age (median age) in Athol was 34 years. Athol currently has 11 of Kootenai County’s 271 registered sex offenders.

Not surprisingly, 95 percent of the population was white, 2 percent was American Indian, 2 percent was Hispanic, and 0.15 percent was from other races. That’s one person.

Of the 648 white folks in Athol, 387 had ancestors that came here from Germany, England and Ireland. None had ancestors from Lithuania, Russia or Subsaharan Africa. Of the rest, 148 didn’t know where they came from.

The Idaho Legislature need not worry about English as the official language in Athol. Of the 21 Spanish-speaking Atholians, 15 speak English “less than very well.” The census didn’t ask how many English-speaking Atholians could speak it “less than very well.” I bet it’s more than 15.

The town’s original name was Colton but, some say, it was changed to honor a Kootenai Indian chief. Singletary wonders why, if that’s true, there are six other cities in the United States honoring our local Chief Athol. He thinks the name may be Scottish. I think it was all a misunderstanding. I think the town was named for a chief, but Athol wasn’t his real name, just a name his detractors called him behind his back. That’s how history works in the West.

Sorry Athol, I just couldn’t resist. I’ll do better, though; no more jokes the next time I drive through, heading for Sandpoint or Farragut or Spirit Lake.