The town that Humbird built

(Recently, I took a drive out to Lincoln School and was amazed at how quickly the construction of the new Super-One Store had progressed. I noticed there were several other cars pulled to the side of the street with the occupants doing the same thing I was doing — just looking. As I sat there, I wondered how many of them knew what had transpired in this area of Sandpoint more than 100 years ago.

I first learned about Humbird Milltown from the late Dale Selle. The people who attended the Milltown reunion a few years back brought the place to life because they had lived, played, and worked in the place they called home. Today, I want to share with you some of the rich history of Sandpoint’s Milltown.)

In the spring of 1901, shortly after purchasing the Sandpoint Lumber Company, the Humbird Lumber Company began constructing dwelling houses for their mill workers. The south boundary of this “Milltown” was Larch Street. Boyer Avenue bound Milltown on the west, the steep bank of Sand Creek on the east, and an imaginary line, which would be an extension of Chestnut Street on the north. In addition to the houses built along the north side of Larch Street and the east side of Boyer Avenue, the Humbird Lumber Company built houses along three streets of its own. Those streets were, Sanborn Avenue (an extension of Fifth Avenue), Humbird Avenue (later called Maple Avenue, a street that does not exist today), and Howard Avenue (an extension of Sixth Avenue, which no longer exists). Highway 95 did not go through at that time so Sanborn Avenue (Fifth Avenue) stopped at the northern edge of Milltown.

Board sidewalks ran along each side of Milltown’s dirt streets. The sidewalks were constructed by placing three long 2-inch by 12-inch planks side-by-side and end-to-end. Two deep gullies traversed Milltown from west to east, emptying into Sand Creek. Footbridges and wagon bridges crossed the gullies.

Some of the Milltown houses were already occupied when Dr. Nathan A. Goddard built the “Sandpoint Hospital” at 315 Larch Street, across from the company houses, in the fall of 1902. On April 20, 1906, the Northern Idaho News announced, “The new houses in Milltown are all completed and occupied.”

There were 80 designated house sites but only 65 houses were built. The Milltown houses had their own numbering system separate from city house numbers; they were numbered 1 to 65. Later, when Milltown was annexed by the city of Sandpoint, the houses were re-numbered to conform to the city numbering system.

Milltown houses, numbers 1 through 4, were built on the north side of Larch Street, between Third Avenue and Fifth Avenue. These were the “bosses” houses and they were a little nicer than those built for the “workers.” Some families turned their Milltown homes into boarding houses for unmarried mill workers and some would have as many as 10 men living with them, bunkhouse style, with three or four bunk beds in one bedroom.

On April 17, 1906, the Sandpoint City Council authorized the Humbird Lumber Company to build and operate an electric power plant and this meant electric lights for all Milltown houses. Milltown had a direct connection to the city water mains so the Milltown houses had running water.

However, there was no sewer system for the company housing project, which meant each Milltown home had an outhouse (privy) behind the main house. They were in use into the 1940s. Also behind the houses was an assortment of other outbuildings — a woodshed, a root cellar, and many had a chicken coop. Some lots had a small barn in which to keep the hay for the family milk cows. There were also pigsties, smoke houses, tool sheds, and various storage sheds.

A loud steam whistle, at the mill on the east side of Sand Creek, signaled the start and end of each mill shift and the break for noon lunch. Workers at the mill walked to and from their Milltown homes on a footbridge across Sand Creek. The west end of the footbridge was near the east end of Larch Street at its intersection with Third Avenue.

There was a large general store, owned by the Humbird Company that was located at 610 North Third Ave. in Sandpoint. Workers at the mill could purchase groceries, clothing, and other items at the company store on credit. The store also sold goods to the public.

In 1907, the Spokane International Railway Company built their railroad tracks right through Sandpoint’s Milltown, between Sanborn Avenue (5th Avenue) and Humbird Avenue (Maple Street). This added the rumble of passing trains and smoke from puffing steam engines to the atmosphere of this picturesque community of hearty, working-class people.

To be continued.