Latah County
IDGenWeb
There are several self-guided tours offered throughout the towns and communities in Latah County. Below is the information about the tours and how to get booklets to view, visit, and learn more about the history of some of the communities in Latah County.
Juliaetta began when Rupert Schupfer homesteaded the land in 1878 and plotted one-half of his property as a town site. He operated a general store in his new town which now is in the eastern part of Latah County. By 1882, another early pioneer saw a need for a Post Office and applied for postmaster. When granted, Charles Snyder named the town after his two daughters: Julia and Etta.
The tour includes 25 stops and encompasses the five blocks long and three blocks wide small community on a sloping town site overlooking the Potlatch River. The walking tour is about 1/2 mile and generally takes about 1/2 hour to complete when stopping to read and study each location. State Highway 3 serves as the Main Street through the town.
Tour booklet can be obtained by stopping at
• Juliaetta Market, 1051 Main Street, Juliaetta, Idaho 83835
• Colter Creek Winery, 308 Main Street, Juliaetta, Idaho 83535
OR contacting
• J-K Heritage Foundation web site at www.ikhf.info
• Email: jkheritagefoundation@jkhf.info
• Mail: J-K Heritage Foundation, P O Box 37, Kendrick, Idaho, 83537.
Kendrick was established in 1890 in a 1,500-foot canyon valley along the Potlatch River in the eastern part of Latah County. In 1891 the railroad arrived from Lewiston and the town blossomed.
Today there are 39 stops on the historical tour of the town that encompasses both sides of State Highway 3, which is also Main Street. The self-guided tour is about 8 blocks and takes about 1hour when you stop at each point and read about the heritage of this small community.
Tour booklet can be obtained by stopping at
• Simple Joys Antiques & Gifts, 609 E Main St., Kendrick, Idaho 83537
OR contacting
• J-K Heritage Foundation web site at www.ikhf.info
• Email: jkheritagefoundation@jkhf.info
• Mail: J-K Heritage Foundation, P O Box 37, Kendrick, Idaho, 83537
Potlatch was established in 1905 by the Potlatch Lumber Company as a company town and was owned by the company until 1952. Frederick Weyerhaeuser decided to own the town to allow the company to control all aspects of life including forbidding the sale of alcohol "in order to give us conditions of life which will be attractive to the better element of laboring man".Potlatch planned two residential areas on the north and south hills with the commercial area in the middle. The streets running north to south had tree names while east to west were numerical. Today, there are two designated historical districts that have become the Walking Tours of Potlatch Neighborhoods. There are 19 houses in the tour and all are on the National Register of Historical Places. The homes are privately owned and not opened to the public.
The first group of bungalow houses were constructed for the mill managers and located on the south hill, which became known as Nob Hill. It includes 12 houses with a narrative of the history of each house in the brochure. The walk is within a three-block area with a park site in the center.
On the north hill in a grid plan was the workers homes, ranging from three to seven rooms with the smallest at the bottom of the hill. As the workers gained seniority they moved up into larger quarters. The homes were for married workers with the bachelors living in boarding houses or rented rooms. There are only three houses in the second area on the tour. They surround a city block, which housed the school. Another area, to the north, has the remaining three houses mentioned in the pamphlet.
The brochure for this interesting town tour can be obtained at:
• Potlatch Historical Society, 195 Sixth Street, Potlatch, Idaho
• WebSite: www.potlatchhistoricalsociety.org
• Email: admin@potlatchhistoricalsociety.org
OR contacting
• Potlatch Railroad Depot Museum, 185 Sixth Street, Potlatch, Idaho
• Website: www.wimryhpg.com
• Email: hpgpres@wimryhpg.com (HPG President)
J. Wesley Seat filed for a homestead and built a sawmill on his property about where the City of Troy is now located. The town was incorporated in 1892 and is known for its wide Main Street which is also State Highway 8
There are self-guided and guided tours of the historical downtown part of Troy. The City of Troy Historical Walking Tour Map shows 23 stops with a historical narrative and pictures of the stops along the way. The walking tour is approximately seven block long and three blocks wide with two stops across the Bear Creek on the west side of town. It generally takes a leisurely one hour to complete.
Booklets for the self-guided tours are available at the Troy Historical Society's
new home at 421 South Main Street (Open Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm). The tour booklets are free;
a colored souvenir booklet is available for a nominal fee. For more information,
• contact the Troy Historical Society at P O Box 351, Troy, Idaho 83871
A guided tour provided by Dorothy Anderson, City Historian, is also available upon request and coordination. She can be contacted at
• Phone: (208) 835-3743
• Email: donellis@gmail.com
• Mail: Troy Historical Society, 421 South Main Street, Troy, Idaho 83871
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This page was last updated 09/23/2023