Streets find names in variety of places

[In November 2011], Mrs. Nancy Wray Farmin takes us back to 1897 — the year she came to Sandpoint. Below, you will find a continuation of Mrs. Farmin’s story, in her own words, as she told it 62 years ago in 1949.

“As the naming of the streets continued, the names with which we are all familiar came into being, Alder, Poplar, Fir and Larch. Being just fresh from the prairie, the name ‘Larch’ puzzled me. I had to ask, ‘What kind of tree is that?’ Mr. Farmin enlightened me. A larch and a tamarack are one and the same.

“The streets in the Farmin addition are 80 feet wide. This has been a matter of pride to every Farmin. Ignatz Weil, who had 80 acres south of Pine Street, decided he would also plat his homestead. However, he believed the Farmins had been too liberal, making streets so wide. He said the south part of town would never be anything but the residential district anyway. Besides, think of the money it was going to cost to pull all the stumps out of the streets — so 60 feet was wide enough.

“To this day, the difference of opinions between these two early citizens has been preserved in the jog every street makes that joins Pine Street from the south. John R. Law, who platted the addition in the southwest part of Sandpoint near the high school, and J.B. Southmayde, who platted an addition in and around what is now the Washington school, both made streets in their additions 60 feet wide.

“When I came to Sandpoint Mr. Law was operating a small newspaper called the Sandpoint Citizen. He had come from Michigan and the love of his former home state is reflected in the names he gave the streets in the Laws’ addition to this city. We find the Great Lakes of Superior, Michigan, and Huron. There are Erie, Ontario, and St. Clair. Mr. Law named Euclid Avenue for the avenue of the same name in Cleveland. He said that it was the most beautiful street in any city in the world. Between Euclid and south Fourth is a short street, which Mr. Law named for his associate, Antone Petersen, a short man of Scandinavian ancestry ….

“Mr. Dishman, a Kentuckian, homesteaded west of Boyer Avenue. After serving as a member of the school board and later as county commissioner, he decided to move to a locality where one did not need to work so hard to make a farm. There were too many stumps here. He moved to the Spokane valley and with his brother, Arthur J. Dishman, founded what is now the

town of Dishman.

“When Mr. Dishman was county commissioner, he had to move his family to the county seat of Rathdrum. The entire panhandle of Idaho was one county called Kootenai. It was at this time that Mr. Dishman sold his homestead to Ike Boyer, who had just come to Sandpoint from Montana. Since it was the popular thing to do, Mr. Boyer also platted his property. He chided Mr. Farmin for his modesty in not giving his family name to any of the streets in the Farmin addition. He requested permission from Mr. Farmin to change the name of the avenue marking the latter’s west boundary from Seventh Avenue to Boyer. Mr. Farmin agreed to the change and Mr. Boyer gallantly named the next avenue “Ella” in honor of Mr. Farmin’s wife.

“Mr. Boyer felt that other pioneers should be remembered also, so he named three of the streets in his addition for the daughters of Mr. Law — Ruth, Olive, and Florence. The wife of Mr. Southmayde is remembered, too, by Lavina Avenue.

“Many notables have visited Sandpoint. These include high hats and top brass from Queen Marie of Rumania, to four presidents from Grant to F.D. Roosevelt and lately our favorite songster, Bing Crosby. All honor to them but I give you the names that mean more than streets — the real pioneers, the staunch, the true, the brave and bright, the men and women for whom Sandpoint streets are named.”

Longtime historian Bob Gunter spent his life diving into history, capturing the people and places of the community, highlighting what made it special. Gunter, who passed away in 2012, would take readers to discover the stories of local people, places and events in the community. This in one such column, which ran in November 2011.