Fifth-grader organizes Post Falls walking tour

POST FALLS – Sometimes the best lessons come from unexpected places.

Post Falls residents will soon be learning more about their city’s past, thanks to the efforts of an enterprising Ponderosa Elementary School student.

Fifth-grader Maddy Baker spearheaded a Post Falls walking tour project which will soon feature murals of influential early town leaders on buildings downtown.

Maddy launched the project after seeing similar murals during a visit to Anacortes, Wash., almost two years ago.

“After seeing these murals you wanted to walk instead of riding in the car,” the 11-year-old said of her inspiration. “I knew that there would be a lot of people who could help out.”

The project is now flourishing with the support of Maddy’s mother, Ponderosa Elementary Principal Kathy Baker, artist Linda Fabrizius and the Post Falls Historical Society.

The almost life-size depictions, painted on wood, will be affixed over the next month to Post Falls buildings in the downtown core. Each will be accompanied with some basic identifying information.

More detailed biographies written by Ponderosa Elementary School students will be available online.

Those created so far include: Alphonso “Alf” Webster, a two-time mayor of Post Falls who ran the town’s first trading post after immigrating to the United States from Germany; Dr. G.O. Kildow, a Post Falls chemistry teacher and former president of North Idaho College; Evelyn Seyforth, a town grocer who died with $80,000 worth of IOUs in her safe rather than collecting from people who couldn’t afford to pay; and Mary Long Eisenhauer, an early Post Falls teacher.

Local historian Kim Brown helped select the people to be honored with the murals. They were chosen based on character traits of honesty, hard work and compassion.

“It’s the thread of history and how these people’s actions impact people today,” Brown said of the choices.

“These are great leaders who stepped forward to make their community a better place,” Baker said.

The idea is to incorporate the murals into a larger walking tour of Post Falls which will point out historic buildings and sites.

Baker said she’s not surprised her daughter has been successful recruiting help and making the project happen.

“Maddy’s pretty special,” Baker said. “When she was 5 she had a birthday party and asked kids to bring donations for the humane society instead of presents. She always finds a way to give back. That’s just in her heart.”

Artist Fabrizius enthusiastically signed on to the project. She has volunteered at Ponderosa Elementary for almost a decade, teaching the students how to paint murals to decorate their school.

“It’s just getting bigger and bigger,” Fabrizius said of the project.

She bases her renderings on photographs of the people.

One of her upcoming depictions will be a bit more difficult since there are no photographs of Bill Wilson, Post Falls’ first African-American resident and a farmer who took in a widower and his family and employed local youth. Instead the painter, who once worked as a police sketch artist, will draw Wilson based on the description by one local woman who knew him.

Recent support for the murals, including a proclamation from Post Falls city officials and donations for more murals, has encouraged the group. They intend to continue making more murals as long as they can.

“We’re looking at it as a long-term project,” Baker said. “We’ll do a few more each year.”