~Lincoln County News~
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Lincoln
County Chamber Banquet
I would like to invite you to the Lincoln
County Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet to be held on January 18th, 2012 at
the Lincoln County Community Center
in Shoshone. The night will be full of fun and great food. Mommy Market will catered the dinner and door prizes will be awarded
throughout the night. This years guest speaker will be
Lundy Flick. Lundy is the active president of the Lost N Lava Cowboy Poetry
Inc, and has volunteered many hours to our county. He is an active 4-H leader,
produced the first time Ranch Rodeo at the 2011 Lincoln County Fair &
Rodeo. Lundy has had many businesses when he was in Pennsylvania
and also in Idaho.
Lundy is a very influential person and will bring a wealth of information to
our evening.
Tickets
are $15.00 each and can be purchased at the chamber office/2nd Time Around Antique Mall, 102 South Rail Street East, Shoshone or
by members of the chamber. Tickets for
Dinner are on sale now and RSVP by January 9th.
The
event will start off with an social hour beginning at
5:30pm and then dinner to begin at 6:00pm.
For
more information contact the Lincoln County Chamber at 886-9811.
Lincoln County Chamber
or Commerce
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Ongoing Activities:
Every 10:00am Biscuits and Gravy for $2.00 Iron Horse Saloon
Sunday Shoshone
Every Bountiful
Baskets Community
Center
Saturday Go to
bountifulbaskets.org for more
Information
For more information
about any of the above event call 208-886-9811
IF YOU HAVE A
COMMUNITY EVENT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE US TO LIST PLEASE CONTACT US BY EMAIL: payson@lincolncountychamber.org
or by phone (208) 886-9811. Event information can also be found on our website.
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Lincoln County was established March 18,
1895 with its county seat at Shoshone. Lincoln
was much larger originally, in 1913 Gooding and Minidoka took about half the
original Lincoln County, after the creation of Jerome in
1919, Lincoln
was left with only 1,206 square miles. Named for President Abraham Lincoln, the
sixteenth President of the United
States, under whose administration the Idaho Territory
was established. Lincoln
County’s estimated
population is about 4,500.
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Welcome to Shoshone
Shoshone, the county seat and largest city
of Lincoln County, has an estimated population of about 1,400.
In contrast to the Shoshone Native American
tribe for which it is named, the city's name is correctly pronounced
"Show-shown," with a silent 'e'.
Shoshone was laid out in 1882 in anticipation
of the soon to follow Union Pacific shortline
railroad. Shoshone became not only the town with the widest main street in the
world, but also one of the wildest towns in the West. Even before being
formally established it was filled with miners from Hailey, railroad men and
sheep herders.
By 1883, reportedly 10-15 arrests were being
made daily. Offenders were placed in a hole in the ground. The bars were guards
with Winchester
rifles, who were ordered to shoot at any head sticking above the rim of the
hole. Prostitution was legal until the mid-1950’s,
when it was rumored to have been abolished by the mayor’s wife (while the mayor
was out of town).
It was said in an attempt to stabilize the
town & attract families, the townsite company
gave two building lots to churches and the business owners donated $75.00
toward the building fund of any church or school. The Methodists &
Catholics were the first to take up the offer. They were followed quickly by
the Espiscopalians.
By the turn of the century Shoshone was a
major railhead for sheep ranchers. The 1920’s and 30’s brought bootlegging. The
40’s brought celebrities on their way to Sun Valley
or staying in the area to hunt. Since its wild beginnings, Shoshone has seen
all the changes that created many ghost towns. Perhaps shaped and inspired by
the surrounding desert, residents have always adapted and found new ways of
life to keep the town alive.
Lincoln County Court House Governor’s
Mansion
The Lincoln
County Court House (111 West
B. Street) was completed in 1904. The original oak
furniture has been restored and is still in use. Inside you will find a display
case containing some of the early items used in the court house. Early pictures
of the area are also displayed on the walls. The jail in the basement is
reported to be the last remaining “flat-iron” jails in existence in the West.
The Governor’s
Mansion (West C. Street & South Greenwood), now a Bed and Breakfast,
was built by Frank R. Gooding, Governor of Idaho from 1901-1905. The Gooding
family immigrated to the United
States from England in the 1800’s. After trying
their luck in Michigan
and California,
the family settled in the Shoshone area where Frank and his brother became
known as “Sheep Barons”.
Bethany Lodge #21, A.F. & A.M. Episcopal Church
Sometime before October 1886, when Idaho was yet a territory,
10 Masons living in the Shoshone area sought to form a lodge. A dispensation
was issued for Bethany Lodge UD (112 West B. Street)
located at Shoshone, Alturas County,
Idaho Territory on October 12, 1886. The
meetings were held in a building belonging to the Knights of Labor located
somewhere behind the present Manhattan Café. On September 18, 1887 a charter was issued to
Lincoln Chapter No. 42, Order of the Eastern Star. Both groups have had close
fraternal relations ever since. The present building known as the K of P Hall
was purchased from R.J. Watkins for $1,000.00 in October 1934. This has been
the meeting place for Bethany Lodge and the Lincoln Chapter since. Many
meetings both public and private have been held in the building over the years.
As early as 1886
occasional Espicopal services were held in Shoshone.
The first records of an organized congregation are from 1889. The Episcopal Church (110 West B. Street) was formally
established in November of 1889. The church building was constructed in the
summer of 1902. A fire in 1960 caused considerable damage to the interior
requiring remodeling to its present form. The Jennings Parish House located
next door was at one time the residence of the rector. In recent years the
Episcopal congregation has invited the E.C.L.A. Lutheran Outreach to jointly
use the church.
Zech House
Geil Home
Called “Colonial” at the time (Zech House, West C. Street & South Apple), this large square
two story frame house has hip-roof dormers. There is a porch across the front,
also hip-roofed, and a bay window on the South side. Detailing is “Colonial”
only in Tuscan porch posts and three ox-eye windows in the second story. Fancy
cut shingles add textural interest to the dormers and porch. The exterior is
unaltered. The house was purchased in 1986 by, and is the current residence of
Dr. and Mrs. Terrill W. Zech.
Geil Home (311
North Cherry) – The land was originally purchased by William L. Richards on October 20, 1884. He
purchased the land from the United States Government at the Hailey Land Office
of Alturas County, Idaho Territory. The land was later purchased by Sarah
Brown, whose husband was Justice of the Peace in and for Alturas County, Idaho
Territory. J.C. and Sarah finished building the house in 1886 as moted on the keystone above the front entrance. J.C. and
Sarah resided here with their two children until Sarah’s death in 1894. As
bricks were not manufactured locally until 1902, it is said that the bricks
were shipped in from Boston,
Massachusetts by railway. The
hard wood flooring and other building materials were likewise shipped.
Sundae Matinee Manhattan
Cafe
Sundae
Matinee (South Rail Street)
- The Hotel located above the Movie Theater and ice cream parlor was the last
known residence of Shoshone’s last Madam. Referred to as
“Whispering Ted”, because she was reported to never speak above a whisper.
This eccentric was said to abhor baths, ate every meal at the Manhattan Café (133 South Rail) for
years and was noted as having the classic “heart of gold”.
United Methodist
Church Doncaster
Although locally accepted as the oldest
building in Shoshone, United Methodist
Church (West C.
Street & South Apple) actual date of construction is a debated topic.
Church records approximate construction between late 1890’s and 1903. The
Methodists and Catholics were the first to formally establish congregations in
the area, in the early 1880’s. Two other buildings were used prior to the
completion of this building. Local lore reports that a lot of volunteer help
was offered in the building of the current lava rock structure. The building in
use by the church, at the time, was considered a local eye-sore. Building funds
were started with a donation of $75.00 given by town businessmen.
Listed in the Historic Register as a
“Boarding House”, no memory or evidence exists that Doncaster
(109 North Greenwood)
ever served that purpose. Rather during Prohibition it was known to be a
“Speak-Easy”. In World War II, it was the hottest club in town, known as the
“Sunshine Club”. Following that time the building was Mrs. Coffee’s Animal Museum
for over 10 years. The Doncaster
is listed on the National Historic Register as the, “Galo
Boarding House”. It is a lava rock structure.
Whistle
Stop
Soloaga Basque Boarding House
Although the actual age of this building is
not known, Whistle Stop (104 South
Rail) appears in town photos from the early 1900’s. The store was leased by the
JC Penny Company and opened as store #46 on April 5, 1913. The store operated from 1913 to
May 18, 1957.
Sales performance was never out standing, in 1928 sales were just over
$100,000.00. During the depression in 1932 the store actually operated at a net
loss with sales below $50,000.00. After the store’s closure in 1957 it was
purchased and re-opened by its manager, Mr. Douglas H. Hansen, who continued it’s operation as a department store for a number of years.
The Soloaga Basque
Boarding House (201 East
Avenue A. Street) was recently purchased and is
being restored by Jann M. Thomsen and her two sons
Joe and Matt. Built from 1904 to 1907, by the grandparents of
Jack Soloaga, prominent Basque Sheep ranchers.
This two-story white stucco building has 28 rooms. The private quarters for the
family and the hotel-keeper are found on the first floor, towards the back of
the building near the kitchen. The second story contains dormitory-style rooms
for boarders. It is said to be haunted by Nuns, who were unhappy with the
goings on in the hotel as it serviced “all” the needs of the Basque sheepmen.
Shoshone has long been considered the main
railroad station in Idaho's
Magic Valley region. The much larger community
of Twin Falls 26
miles to the south never developed a strong railroad presence due to the
logistical issues presented by its location south of the Snake River Canyon.
For many years Shoshone was the only Amtrak stop in southern Idaho.
A few miles north of Shoshone are the Shoshone Ice Caves,
hollow subterranean lava tubes that stay cool enough for the ice inside them to
remain frozen throughout the summer.
Shoshone, located in Central Idaho at the
junction of U.S. Highway 93, 26 and scenic State Highway 75, is the Gateway to
Idaho’s High Desert, the Sawtooth Mountains wilderness and famed Sun Valley
Resort.
The town is a small friendly rural area,
where agriculture is the main economical base and a gateway leading to
many natural wonders such as: Shoshone
Ice Caves,
Mammoth Caves, Craters of the Moon, Malad Gorge, 1000 Springs Scenic Route, Natural Hot
Springs, Fossil Beds, City of Rocks, Balanced Rock, Oregon Trail, Shoshone Falls,
Snake River Canyon and much more! Such as the many State
Parks, Museums, Ski Resorts, Lakes, Rivers and Dams. The outlets to
scenic sites, tours and a variety of activities for everyone!
City of
Shoshone: http://www.shoshonecity.com/