Wallace's Fall For History Day #1

We learned of this three-day event, titled A Checkered Past, while we were in Coeur d'Alene in June. We knew we just had to be a part of it.

How could we miss this? "Be educated and entertained as you learn about our historic town's casual relationship with authority: gambling, red light districts, FBI raids and the secrets hidden in historic buildings."

Wallace's Fall for History Festival is a gala celebration of Wallace's heritage. The history of this little town is full of danger, intrigue, passion, great wealth, heroics, and comedy which is set against the breathtaking backdrop of northern Idaho’s Bitterroot mountains.

A true, old west, mining town that still prospers today; the town of Wallace traces its roots back to 1884 when Colonel William R. Wallace purchased 80 acres of land and built his cabin in the area that became the site of the present city. The entire town is on the National Historic Register (a fantastic strategy which prevented the I-90 bulldozing through). After our previous short visit, we knew we needed a more thorough history lesson.

Our first tour, Where They Stashed the Millions, was one that totally intrigued. It didn't hurt that it began at Wallace's Carnegie Library (1911), one of only a few which serves as its initial beginnings... a public library.

Historian Shauna Hillman took us to over a dozen locations, showcasing over 20 vaults and safes that held the riches of Wallace’s heyday. Along the way we learned more than we ever thought possible about safes. It was very, very cool.

From ornate cannonball safes and rectangular double walled cast iron creations to massive pressure sensitive vaults with ornate bankers' doors, antique bank safes are highly valued for their beauty, craftsmanship, and historical significance as precious treasures (and sometimes secrets, of the past.

We learned that safes were carpeted, most likely, to catch gold dust which could later be extracted from the fabric.

We were also told that they mostly arrived plain and traveling safe painters would adorn safes to the specifications of its owner.

The most popular of the brands on our tour was Diebold. Founded in 1859 by Charles Diebold, the Diebold Bahmann Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, manufactured safes and vaults. Twelve years later, the company received a huge boost in popularity when it was reported that all of the 878 Diebold safes involved in the Great Chicago Fire had survived with their contents intact.

This interesting looking contraption is a cannonball safe which was made for commercial use. They were used in banks (this one at First National) and are often referred to as having a ball on a box design. Most cannonball safes were ornately decorated on the inside and outside with hand jewelling that sparkled like diamonds. Made with manganese, it just sounds strong to me!

Walk-in safes and vaults were generally placed in many larger bank buildings in cities, though more and more banks, by the turn of the century, had a vault of some kind. In many instances, the building was built around the massive walk-in safe or bank vault, and these vaults were crafted out of concrete reinforced with steel. This walk-in vault, now a wine cellar at The Fainting Goat, was placed before the building was constructed. The Finch Building (1892) originally served as office space for the Standard Mining Company, in which John A. Finch and Amasa B. Campbell held substantial shares. The safe was used to protect those shares. Many would feel its current content is just as valuable.

This vault is now the chef's kitchen for Cogs. The DeLashmutt Building was built in 1890, after fire destroyed the Wallace downtown area. The building served as Shoshone County Courthouse from 1898 to 1905. Court proceedings had been held out of Wallace after the fire but were moved to this building when county records were hijacked en route. The lower level of the building was used for court proceedings and the upper-story rooms were known as "court rooms," providing female "boarding." The court moved to a new courthouse in 1905.

Shauna had the keys to some of the most intriguing buildings in Wallace. The White and Bender Company expanded here in 1888. White and Bender was a retail/wholesale mercantile well into the 1930s. The company then became a finance company and a leader in public financing such as appliances and automobiles. They were the first to install electric lights in Wallace. It housed the Stewart Wallace Drug and Selig Water Company until becoming Silver Capital Arts in 1984. Now awaiting new owners, it was opened for us to explore. Wow.

Many windows are adorned with the faded names of lawyers. It turns out, mining towns need lots of lawyers. Who knew?

Several of the offices had their own sink closets. Those deals must have made the lawyers hands sweaty, perhaps?

The Hall's Safe & Lock Company was an American manufacturer of locks, safes, and bank vaults throughout the second half of the 19th century.

Incorporated by Joseph L. Hall in 1867, the Hall's Safe & Lock Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio quickly grew to become the largest safe and vault manufacturer in the world. By 1892 it was responsible for "one-half the entire output of fire proof and burglar proof safes and vaults in the United States" and had offices throughout the United States and much of the rest of the world.

What is now the Rossi Insurance (1917) Building was erected as a one-story building in 1890 for the Bank of Wallace, which failed within the year; it was replaced by the First National Bank of Wallace in 1892.

Its vault was built by the Mosler Safe Company, a manufacturer of security equipment—most notably safes and bank vaults—from 1874 until its bankruptcy in 2001. Mosler was controlled by its founding family until 1967, when they sold it to American Standard Companies.

Of all the banks which have come and gone in Wallace, this is the only one in town, and it just arrived in May of this year. But boy are they secured!

Mountain West Bank's new branch is located in the historic First National Bank of Wallace building (1917).

It had not only a traditional bank vault, but it had a secured room for safety deposit boxes, too. I can only imagine the treasures they held in the day!

We learned that scenes were painted across the side-by-side doors so that security patrols could tell if the safe was opened (cracked by a theft, perhaps).

As our tour was coming to an end, we popped into the 1916 Gyde Taylor Block building.

Built as an automobile showroom, it also housed the offices of Dr. Leonard E. Hanson and osteopath, James A. Savage.

For some unknown reason (why would a car dealer need three safes?), it had three heavy safes, stacked on top of one another, one on each floor. This is the basement model.

A fun stop, and our last one, was at the County Courthouse's records vault. Every transaction was documented in these beautiful volumes, starting in 1902. I could have stayed there, perusing for hours.

The vault door was a modern one and this sign cracked me up while simultaneously giving me comfort!

Our last history lesson of the day happened at Samuels Park for the dedication of a new interpretive sign.

The Samuels Hotel was the grandest building in Wallace. Located on the corner of Seventh and Cedar streets, the building was the hub of the socialites from its inception in 1908, but fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1974 with great controversary and upset from the locals (longer story here).

The Story of the Samuels was a passionate project, proposed by Dick Caron for the last 25 years. Though we know little about the magnificent hotel, its loss was sincerely expressed by Mr. Caron.