Beautiful, Progressive Coeur d’Alene

The cover of George F. Weeks’ paperback book from the 1920s: “Coeur d’Alene: Beautiful and Progressive.”

Dan of the County and his siblings found this small paperback while looking through their late parents’ belongings. It’s a small paperback book produced in the 1920 by George F. Weeks. In part, the Foreword reads, “to everybody, everywhere:  To you who are looking for a beautiful and healthful city, and a resourceful county, in a state that is almost an empire in size, we present this book. Emails DOTC: “A section that spoke to me in particular was titled the same as the book, Beautiful Coeur d’Alene Progressive Coeur d’Alene.” It descibes Coeur d’Alene as:

• A city of homes.
• A city with a soul.
• A city of education ($200,000 in new school buildings).
• A city of modern ideas.A city of industry.
• A city of activity.
• A city of energy.
• A city of co-operation.
• A city of Americans.

“You can’t go wrong with that list and it is every bit as good a model as when it was written in the 1920’s. We have to ask how we are measuring up against our early ideals as a city?” emails DOTC.

Question: Has Coeur d’Alene lived up to that list?