Huckleberries: Wallace founder met match in second wife, Lucie

Huckleberries Monday:

Now that Col. William Ross Wallace has gotten his due again as the founder of Wallace, his second wife (of three), Lucie, deserves her own 15 minutes of postmortem fame.

Without Lucie, according to local researcher Tony Bamonte in his new book, “Historic Wallace, Idaho, and My Unforeseen Ties,” Wallace might have been named something else.

The town was originally called Placer Center. But the U.S. Postal Service considered the name too long. So, Lucie, the first postmistress, renamed the town Wallace, over her husband’s objections. He thought there were too many towns named Wallace already.

Lucie was more than the right person in the right place when it came to naming rights. She was the only woman to winter in Placer Center in 1885 when her husband was founding the town. Also, according to Bamonte’s book, she was said to be the inspiration for a famed character, “Ma Pettengill,” in a Saturday Evening Post series, “Ruggles of Red Gap.” The tale of a British valet who winds up in a wild Western town was made into a best-selling novel in 1915 and later a play and a movie, starring Charles Laughton.

When William Wallace decided he didn’t want to live with Lucie anymore, she filed for divorce. The divorce was granted July 26, 1890. The town burned down the following day. Poetic justice? Full Huckleberries column here.