By then, he’s living on a ranch on the Weiser Flat and at age 50, the first of his 7 children (all girls) are born. Jeanna in 1898, Catherine in 1900, and Roberta in 1902. Sadly, tragedy struck in January 1903 when all three toddlers become ill. Within a few days of one another, Jeanna and Catherine succumbed. Years later they would be joined in rest near a large headstone at Hillcrest Cemetery by their parents and two sisters, Roberta and Willie. Before her death, Roberta would tell us that what saved her was the whiskey she was given! For years, the family attributed those deaths to a viral condition. During a house centennial reunion, we hosted for more than 50 family descendants, they conjectured the more likely cause was botulism! Whatever the cause, I’ve often wondered what that must have been like for Wilhelmina, losing two children within days, only a few years after moving to desolate sagebrush country with no family to support her but a husband old enough to be her father. But that was a different world and life went on. Roberta was soon followed by Chris(tine) in 1904, (Frances) Mary in 1907, (Wilma) “Willie” in 1911, and Bea(trice) in 1915.
By 1907, James was a well-respected figure in the Weiser community. It was time to retire from the ranch and move to town, so a larger and more substantial home was commissioned to local and regional architect H. W. (Herbert Weston) Bond. Early in our ownership, we learned that Bond designed the similar looking (but larger) home to the east of ours for the Broderson family in 1915, what is now the Hartland Inn on highway 95 in New Meadows, and the now extant New Meadows Hotel which was located near the intersection of highways 55 & 95. He likely designed others in our region as well. More recent research I’ve done suggests Bond was only in Weiser early in the 20th century. He lived and worked for several years in Baker City, Or, as well as Santa Barbara, Ca, after coming out west, so he apparently had some level of success.

Construction on the house got underway in 1907 in what was then countryside, just outside of town. Our home would soon be joined by the Leighton House to the west in 1909, and the previously referenced Broderson home in 1915. Each were situated on generous ten acre lots which ran up to the Galloway ditch. The original blueprints and multi-page typewritten specifications which have remained with our house, contain a handwritten note disclosing the Fishers moved into their new home on March 1, 1908. At that time, the house was heated by a fireplace in the living room, wood stoves in the rear parlor and dining rooms, and the cookstove in the kitchen. All three chimneys still stand proudly. There were 3 bedrooms upstairs accompanied by a rudimentary bathroom in the attic area above the kitchen, at the back of the house. The family tells us they called the 4th bedroom located downstairs off the kitchen, “the infirmary”. It seems when family members got sick, they were isolated near the kitchen and downstairs bathroom until they were well.
With more kids on the way, the Fisher family soon outgrew this house and in 1911, they raised the roof over the kitchen and “infirmary” at the back of the house, and added two more bedrooms, modernized the upstairs bathroom, installed a back stairway, and added an attic stairway which led to two unfinished rooms on the third floor.

More importantly, they added a hot water heating system to the house. The family told us that a trainload of hot water heating systems came through Weiser and they weren’t going to be left out! That original boiler (converted from coal to oil, and then natural gas) and radiators were still providing faithful service when we purchased the house in 1981. We’ve since installed a high efficiency boiler which still feeds those radiators!
James was a good provider and saw that all his daughters received college educations, four of them graduating from the U of I. We have one of the steamer trunks that accompanied them on the train to school and back each year. When he died in 1935, his wake was held in the front room! His wife survived him by 25 years, passing in 1961, with both of them having lived to the same ripe old age. Roberta, the oldest surviving daughter, had married late in the 1920’s and moved to Pocatello, where they had a daughter. She soon divorced and moved back with Jean to the family home, where she became a much beloved schoolteacher and librarian in the Weiser School District. A few years after her retirement, she sold the house and moved to Oregon in 1974 to be closer to her daughter. In 1957, Jean married Bill Marshall at the Weiser Presbyterian church and made their home in Oregon. In fact, all the daughters eventually married and moved away. However, they always returned home through the years, with Roberta and Chris returning frequently during the early years of our ownership. We were blessed to have experienced relationships with the Fisher women, Roberta (“Bert” to her family), Chris, Willie, and Bea. Sadly, Mary passed away in 1982 before we could meet her, but her children have given us a good idea of what she must have been like.
At the time we decided to move to Weiser in 1981, we told our realtor, Louise Tarter, we wanted an original, unaltered house and that’s exactly what she brought us. It’s the only house we looked at when we came to Weiser that February. The Merrill’s were in their third year of ownership, having bought the house from Delbert and Carolyn Petty, who had purchased it from Roberta in 1974. By then, the back acreage had been sold off, leaving just the acre on which the house sat and the acre to our east. When we moved in during Fiddle Week 1981, 6th Street dead ended at the recently built apartments directly behind us. The original barn was gone but the Leighton barn remained. The original, solid concrete-walled, one car garage was still standing, though listing more than the Titanic! With no practical way to resurrect it, a little nudge created a pile of rubble which we stacked into low landscape walls that still remain around the yard. Though the garage is now gone, we’ve often laughed as we’ve recalled the story Roberta and Chris told of how every time they’d pull their 1916 Buick touring car through those narrow swinging doors, they’d “knock off a piece of brass”!

Also present in the house at our purchase were most original light fixtures, wallpaper in three bedrooms, varnished woodwork, and even some wool carpeting dating to James’s last years! This was due perhaps to the Petty’s children being grown by their family’s ownership and while the Merrill’s seven children certainly left their marks, their ownership was so short that the house survived pretty much intact. The house was always a single-family home and by 1986, we’d already become the second longest owners. Sadly, the end of the century would also bring an end to most of the mature trees in our front yard, grown from mail order nurseries in Chicago when the house was built.
We’ve strived to honor the legacy bestowed on us by good fortune and the original family. We replaced the garage with a building sympathetic to the style of the home. The original footprint and fabric of our home remains, which was a real challenge in a kitchen with five doors, two windows, a chimney stack, and no uninterrupted wall! The litmus test for all modifications is “would it still be recognizable and feel like home to the Fishers”? That family has blessed us with some original artifacts, including the rocker on which Wilhelmina nursed all seven of her children. Perhaps most treasured by us is how they’ve welcomed us into their family, sharing stories and memories which remain with us long after many have passed. Besides many photos, we have a copy of a video oral history done here at the house during the centennial reunion in 2008. We stay in touch with the Fishers, having spoken by phone recently with Jean who turned 90 last year and whom we’ll be visiting in the coming months. We also received separate visits from descendants last year, one of them flying in on a private plane. I took a video of them buzzing over us when they flew home to Washington. Our story, their story, continues as does our work and woeful maintenance on their home. We’ve put on two roofs and masonry has been repointed, though painting, updating plumbing and electrical is ongoing!
Of the 4 surviving daughters, we came to know Willie more intimately. She referred to herself as the black sheep in the family because learning was difficult. She managed to get through St. Margaret’s School for Girls in Boise, but instead of going directly onto college, she took her

allotment money and went to Paris! She eventually completed university, but it was only later in life when she was finally diagnosed with dyslexia! As young girls she and a sister left several inscribed messages on our attic walls, some of which were only discovered during the centennial celebration of the house. They have all been preserved! All five sisters became remarkable, independent, and successful women.
I hope you enjoy the photos. In the coming months, look for other member stories about their historic properties, projects underway or completed, or just experiences and hobbies they enjoy and feel you might too. New members are always welcomed, whether you own a historic property, just appreciate them, or want to have a little fun with like-minded souls!

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By founding member Tony Edmondson

What’s that old saying about how you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? Well, that could easily describe how we got started and what motivates us to this day.
Back in about 1983, the Intermountain Cultural Center and Museum (ICC&M) had only been operating in Hooker Hall (former Admin building for the Intermountain Institute) for several years. Previously, when incorporated as the “Washington County Museum”, it was in a downtown Weiser location which was the former site of the Vendome Hotel and is now the site of the Vendome Center. With an auditorium and abundant physical space, the museum had expanded its activities which were organized through several “committees”, including a theater committee led by Marvin Triguiero and Blake Coats.
When a fire ravaged a corner building in our downtown that fall, several of we ICC&M Board members were prompted into action hoping to save the structure which featured the last remaining turret on a commercial building in Weiser. We actively engaged with property owner Al Lightfield to save the building. Unfortunately, city officials were concerned that the unsupported second floor masonry wall posed a safety threat. We were told that the Hotel Washington fire a few years earlier that resulted in a burned-out hulk sitting empty for an extended period, was an unspoken motivation to quickly move this building into the past as well. While Mr. Lightfield was compelled to demolish the second floor, he agreed not to level it entirely and so a remnant of that building remains today.
That experience awakened us to the blossoming field of “historic preservation” which was beginning to take root across the country in the 1970’s. So much of the historic fabric of Weiser’s commercial district had already been lost or remodeled into oblivion, we decided a formalized committee of the museum would allow us to focus on saving the architectural legacy of our community. It was then the Weiser Architectural Preservation “Committee” was formed. And none too soon.
One evening in 1985, we got a call from a kindred preservationist in Payette, that UPRR had just demolished their depot and was headed to Weiser to do in ours. It wasn’t a total surprise. Our depot had discontinued passenger service years earlier and was being manned only by a skeleton crew who seemed aware of the inevitable. Fortunately, our committee now had some negotiating experience under our belts and within 24 hours, had already engaged UPRR in negotiations to preserve the depot. Simultaneously we began fundraising and contracted a professional planner to develop a site proposal we could present to UPRR. This included the park grounds you see today. We learned early that negotiations with UPRR were akin to working with a foreign country. They had their own bureaucracy and things took time. After two years of negotiations with our group, UPRR was prepared to donate the building and enter into a long-term lease for a parcel of land. However, they were unwilling to negotiate this agreement with our group. They explained some of their past depot donations to well-intentioned groups ultimately led to abandoned and derelict buildings on their right of way. Despite the 20+ year history of the museum, they would only complete the transaction with the City of Weiser.
We approached City officials who were reluctant to accept such an offer. Eventually we devised a plan whereby the City would accept the proposal and once secured, quit claim deed the property and transfer the lease to the WAPC. In 1987, the official transfer took place with the city and in the months to come, a quit claim deed and transfer of lease was completed to WAPC. There were restrictions within the agreement that challenged us through the coming years, but which were eventually overcome. We were off and running, doing fundraising, making repairs and renovations, applying for grant assistance, and even hosting community events. Soon we had historic walking tour brochures printed, conducted seasonal historic home tours, etc. All the while our depot sat quietly, waiting for its day in the sun once again. Many of us knew if ever we were to have a downtown revitalization plan, having a beautifully restored building at the foot of our commercial district could play a vital role in its realization. We couldn’t have been more right.
It was also about this time that WAPC officials approached both City and County officials to enact historic preservation ordinances for the creation of historic preservation commissions which would qualify our communities for grants to do preservation work. Since that time, many grant projects have been completed in our community with the matching funds or in-kind services provided by WAPC. Because some of WAPC’s Board members also serve on these commissions, there’s been some confusion among some about the two distinct preservation organizations. In a nutshell, the “commission” is the official government arm, and the “committee” is the private nonprofit arm of preservation in our community. We work together to achieve our kindred missions.
Unfortunately, disaster soon struck again. In 1997, fire ravaged ICC&M’s Hooker Hall. Fortunately, it was contained before too many artifacts were lost and structural damage occurred. Even so, it was a tremendous blow to the museum and its future viability. The depot among other interim locations, was used as a transfer site where artifacts could be sorted, stored, and conserved. A year or more passed with no real plan for the museum. WAPC was still active since we had both a building (the depot) from which we could base, and our mission/ work was in the community at large. Given the tenuous future of the museum, a decision was made to separate our committee from the museum and incorporate as a non-profit. WAPC now became WAPC “Inc”.
As the museum struggled to work toward a new future, the future of our commercial district was in full swing. In 2000, the City of Weiser implemented a downtown revitalization project which among other grants, included $200k specifically for street improvements at the depot location along with a new roof and exterior paint on the building itself. We were getting closer to having a viable building and a major contributor to attracting visitors to our downtown. As a part of the comprehensive revitalization taking place, the City of Weiser constructed the Vendome Center just a block from the depot on the site of the old Vendome Hotel.
It was about this time, that the Knights of Pythias chapter in Weiser decided to disband. Being one of the most notable and identifiable buildings in our community and even the state, the lodge was concerned that it’s legacy might not be preserved if the building were to pass into private hands. WAPC was approached and we excitedly accepted the donation of their building in about 1999 which we own to this day. The long-time renter of the 1st floor commercial space was Mel’s Trading Post. Mel and his business were landmarks in their own rights within our community. Regrettably, he soon retired closed his business. Being landlords has had its challenges through the years, especially trying to find a compatible and sensitive tenant for our space. We got lucky a couple of years ago when the Coopers entered into a long-term lease and established their Bee Tree educational center at that location. Of course, we’ve made our share of improvements to the building along the way, including new roof, masonry repairs, a structural engineering assessment, etc. Presently we’re about to begin repairs to damage resulting from the fire in the building next door. Fortunately it was minor, and no historic fabric or artifacts were lost.
In 2005 we completed the next phase in the restoration of our depot with a $1m grant to restore the interior, recreate and install roof dormers, and install an HVAC system. This allowed us to begin renting the building on a limited basis for private functions which continues to this day. In about 2012, we negotiated with a local organization allowing them to host an annual farmers market on the depot grounds which also continues to this day. Countless folks use the site as a backdrop for photos or even just to “flip the cookie” as young folks did in the 1950’s.
In 2020, WAPC and its calendar of community events was challenged by Covid like many organizations and businesses throughout the country. Restrictions on our depot rental as well as the suspension of our public events were implemented. Despite a less visible public presence, our Board has continued to meet monthly almost without exception for more than 35 years. We’ve kept dues affordable and continue to advance our mission objectives. 2022 is already shaping up to get us back into a more public forum, with us hosting a visit from a train enthusiast group as well as a walking tour of historic properties planned in May. We encourage owners of historic properties or those just interested in their preservation, to become a member. This year we’ve initiated a member story sharing project we hope sheds additional light on our members and a welcoming flavor to the public we serve.
You don’t have to own a historic property to join us, but you’ll certainly become part owner of two when you do! If you appreciate historic property, community history, are looking for a way to give back to community, you’ll fit right in. A membership form is available on this website!

In 1884, the Oregon Short Line (subsidiary of Union Pacific RR) made its way west through Idaho and on into Oregon. The little town of Weiser was still 3 years from incorporating as a City and was situated mostly east of the present highway 95 in what we now call “Old Town.” Typically, commerce and therefore townsites would center around depot locations selected by the railroad and Weiser would eventually be no exception, though our story has its unique twists. Some enterprising entrepreneurs speculated the depot would be sited south of town and so constructed a few buildings in that location hoping to capitalize on their timing. OSL fooled them and constructed a wood frame depot not far from the brick building you see today in what was then the western outskirts of “Old Town.”
Any inconvenience this location created for our citizens didn’t last long, for in 1890 a devastating fire leveled most of the business district in “Old Town.” Rebuilding gravitated west around the depot and by 1907 the OSL was ready to construct grander and more permanent structures at their locations in Weiser, Payette, Ontario, and Caldwell. All were designed following the same floor plan, yet each incorporated unique exterior details. A visitor exiting the Weiser depot was greeted with an illuminated sign stretching across State Street before them. Within a block could be found two hotels and numerous shops and entertainment.
While the old wooden depot survived for many years as a freight station, the new brick depot soon became the southern terminus where the P&IN (Pacific & Idaho Northern) connected to the OSL. Intended to service the mining districts in central Idaho, 84 miles of track were laid north generally paralleling the Weiser River. Grand two-story depots were built in Council and a short distance from the OSL depot here in Weiser. For years, the I&PN’s “Galloping Goose” as it was affectionately known, transported locals to vacations in McCall as well as freight and commerce between the upper country and points south. Just south across the tracks from the OSL depot was a venue called “Mortimer’s Island.” For many summers, it was the place to go for dances, performances, skating, and just a good time in general. Weiser thrived in those years, but by the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s, transportation, commerce, and lifestyles were changing.
The P&IN depot and old OSL freight depot were both gone. In fact, UPRR had discontinued passenger service from Weiser and all that remained was a freight clerk. All three of our major hotels had either burned down or were demolished. While our depot had survived, its decorative dormers had been removed in a reroofing and the interior had accumulated multiple coats of paint in addition to remodeling which removed the old ticket window in favor of a long counter. We weren’t alone as these trends were impacting many towns across the country whose depots were abandoned or demolished altogether. So, it came as no real surprise when one evening in 1985, one of our members got a call from a preservationist in Payette warning us that UPRR had just demolished their depot and were headed to Weiser in the coming days to do the same!
WAPC quickly got into action and began negotiations with UPRR. We contracted a planner to develop the site plan you see today. Community outreach and fundraising quickly got underway and so began a two-year process to secure our depot. By early 1987, UPRR had agreed to donate the building and enter into a long-term lease of the underlying property but were unwilling to transact this arrangement with our group. It seemed some of their past donations to well-intentioned groups eventually ran aground, leaving depots abandoned and a liability to the RR. They were willing to transact this arrangement with the City of Weiser, but City officials made it clear to us they had no use for a depot. Knowing we weren’t saving just a historic structure but perhaps a key component of any future downtown revitalization effort, we negotiated with the city to accept the agreement and then transfer the building and lease to WAPC thereafter. This was accomplished and so began the long challenge for WAPC to bring our depot back to life.
We set about implementing our site plan and UPRR soon donated a historic caboose which was moved to the newly re-created park. A trackside security fence was installed and the exterior was stabilized and painted. But many of the structural changes UPRR had made through the years, such as an elevated freight dock on the east end of the building, dormer removal and interior wall alterations represented major economic challenges, say nothing of the new roof that was needed. By 2000, the downtown revitalization we’d dreamed about had begun. The city secured a variety of grants, one specifically targeting historic transportation related structures that resulted in the installation of a new roof as well as street, sidewalks, curbs and gutters.
Idaho Heritage Trust offices had recently relocated to Weiser and with their help, we were able to secure additional grants a few years later that permitted us to completely restore the interior and exterior to its original historic appearance. Following original UPRR architectural plans, we restored the ticket counter, put in some new floors and refinished others, reconfigured walls, restored the freight room, recreated our dormers, restored our original hot water radiator heating system, and installed central A/C. This has permitted us to provide limited public access for private events, be the host site for our community farmers market, as well as a variety of other community functions.
Currently, the Weiser Garden Club has undertaken the redesign and implementation of a new landscape plan for our depot. This will compliment and augment the ongoing lawn maintenance Sivero’s Landscaping has generously provided to us through the years. What you see today is the result of a community wide effort over 35 years that we hope will continue to inspire ongoing preservation in our community!