City of Wallace, Idaho HISTORICAL REFERENCE SERIES ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Borrowing an idea from celebrated Idaho historian Merle W. Wells (1918-2000)--an idea Wells developed over many years at the Idaho State Historical Society--this webpage offers a chronologically ordered and evolving series of links to brief articles about Wallace, Idaho's colorful history and, sometimes, related history in Shoshone County and beyond.  It's a work in progress.  (Submissions welcome--send to ronroizen@frontier.com.)
Note:  Looking for a deeper introduction to Wallace's storied history?  You might find what you're looking for in "Wallace, Idaho's basic bibliography."
1858	Col. Wright's harsh justice:  After Steptoe's defeat, Wright's victories pacified local tribes.  Four keys to Wright's successes are suggested.
1861	Shoshone County was created in 1861 and not, as previously thought, in 1858:  Mystery solved via a little historical digging.
1866	Idaho Territory's southern roots:  Post-Civil War loyalty oath sparked an uprising in the largely pro-Confederate Territorial Legislature.
1884	Young Ed Pulaski arrives at Murray:  Future hero of the Big Burn in 1910 joined gold rush to the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River. Pulaski's experience as a packer at Murray:  Young Ed took a hard job. Burying "Stumpy" Wicks:  A story borrowed from the cultural context of Pulaski's life at Murray. Murray's passion for news from the outside world:  Letters to or from Spokane Falls took two weeks. Entertainments at Murray:  Including an Italian with a lumbering black bear and a uniformed monkey.
1892	The Finch Building:  Once a mining company office, now a wine bar and restaurant.
1895	The Hughes murder:  Jealous Wallace lawyer took the life of a recently arrived physician and went unpunished.
1898	Remembering Nellie Jane Stockbridge:  Noted and indefatigable Wallace photographer first arrived here on November 7, 1898.
1900	Cigar store murder on Sixth Street readily resolved:  Sheriff Angus Sutherland's remarkable same-day arrest story.
1907	New Shoshone County Courthouse in Wallace:  County offices move in while controversy swirls around paying for its construction.
1907	John King, prospector but not miner:  A unique figure in the mining history of the Coeur d'Alenes.
1910	Wallace and the Big Burn, very briefly (pdf download):  The Wallace Miner rebuffed a Spokane newspaper's charge that panic reigned in Wallace.  "Surrounded by Forest Fires" (pdf download):  "Big Ed" Pulaski's harrowing Big Burn account, published in 1923.
1913	A seemingly unsolvable post office heist:  Persistence and patience by Seattle-based postal inspector Charles Riddiford paid off in the end.
1916	Herman J. Rossi, five-time mayor of Wallace, murdered his young wife's lover at the Samuels Hotel's lobby:  Here, a roster of blog posts about this notorious homicide--which Idaho author Randy Stapilus termed "one of the Northwest's most striking legal cases."
1918	Shoshone County's historic infirmary or poorhouse at Silverton:  Historian and author, Cindy Nunn, informs that this notable structure was completed sometime between late 1917 and mid 1918.  Link takes you to Nunn's series of informative web pages on this venerable Shoshone County institution.
1918	The Influenza pandemic here--part 1 & part 2:  Nine Mile Cemetery's record of mortality yields the story of the scourge's impact on Wallace and Shoshone County.
1921	The embezzling of millionaire Wallace mining man James F. Callahan by his Spokane investment brokers comes to light in January.
1921	Wobbly convicted in Wallace:  A.S. Embree would spend three-and-one-half years in Idaho's state prison for violating the state's criminal syndicalism law.
1923	Neighboring Burke destroyed by fire.
1925	New Elks Temple dedicated in June, 1925:  Boxing match brings added excitement to the day.
1926	The other murder at the Samuels Hotel:  Girl-wife pled exploitation by two middle-aged men.
1936	Wallace gets its new post office:  The Great Depression occasioned new post office construction around the nation, including at Wallace.
1939	A new municipal swimming pool opens:  The New Deal era's PWA helped Wallace build a new pool.
1944	Dream of a Wallace Civic Auditorium is born:  Donald A. Callahan and the Wallace community construct a memorial to World War II's fallen U.S. military.  Click here for Frederick K. Bardelli's recollections of this historic venue.
1950	Wallace native, Robert R. Granville, arrests atom bomb spy Julius Rosenberg:  Granville's well-earned, 2005 obituary in The New York Times is reproduced.
1951	Shootout on Cedar Street in downtown Wallace:  Valentine's Day tragedy leaves two men dead.
1977	Mary White Gordon (1898-1982) pens her charming memoir about growing up in Wallace, c. 1900-1910.
1985	Wallace's Harry F. Magnuson (1923-2009) appointed chair of the Idaho Statehood Centennial Commission.
1986	Roland J. Bruning (1914-1986):  Fond recollections of noted Wallace journalist and federal official.
2001	Contesting EPA science:  The Science Committee was part of a Shoshone County citizens group called the Shoshone Natural Resources Coalition (SNRC).  The committee comprised about a dozen local professionals tasked with evaluating the science behind EPA's plan to expand the 21 square miles of Kellogg's Superfund site to the entire Coeur d'Alene River Basin.  A brief history of SNRC and the Science Committee, from roughly 2001-2005, is provided here; a blog that tells more of the Science Committee's story, here; a list of all this blog's posts, here.
2020	The late David P. Bond:  Noted local journalist's Wikipedia article (with special thanks to Greg Bosen).