Julie M. Chandler – May 20 2022
In 1986-1987 the city of Weiser began preparing for her Centennial. 100 years was a pretty important birthday for our little community, and our Historically Minded Committee members were all about educating the citizens of Weiser about the rich History this community holds. So, one committee of the Centennial Board worked to create a compilation of stories, news clippings, sagas, and information to be placed in all of the Weiser Schools in hopes that our educators would use it to teach units on Historic Weiser to our children.
I was had just returned from a teaching opportunity for the military in Stuttgart, Germany, and was hired to teach one of the first-grade classes at Pioneer Elementary at the time. The moment our Principal, George Morris, presented the booklet to our staff at a teacher’s meeting, I knew I needed to incorporate it into my curriculum.
Taking the binder back to my classroom, I read through all the information and selected the information that would be perfect for the “younger citizens” of our community, and made copies for my unit. We began by holding classroom discussions to learn the history of our town. The children loved the stories of Rattlesnake Jack Slade and the ruffians that scared the settlers that thought the Railroad should stop out Sunnyside way. They had great fun learning about our founding families: The Galloways, The Leightons, and the Fishers.
The day finally arrived for our first tour of Historic Weiser. Asking for a few parent volunteers, including my own mom, Nancy Chandler, my little 1987 first grade class took the first Historic Tour of Old Weiser. Lunches were packed and the children were warned to wear good shoes because we would be taking a LONG walk.
We began at Pioneer school, walked down Pioneer Road and across State Street to the Galloway House, where we were welcomed by the owners for a peek inside. We took a break at Memorial Park where I got to share with the children that my father, Frank V. Chandler, had helped do the caterpillar work on the rough area and hillside years before to prep the area to be planted with trees and grass to become the park we all loved. We went down by the Middle School, still called a Junior High back then, so the children could learn about the oldest standing School structure, the old gymnasium, and on to the Court House. They got to go inside and go up to the Court Room of the 1940’s CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) building project and then had time to rest up and have lunch at the park. We left our relaxing lunch spot and trekked on to the Pythian Castle where the Signal-American Crew came out and took our picture which appeared in the newspaper the next week.
We jagged over to Commercial Street to the Old Werneth Building (now Matthew’s Grain and Storage), and on to the Oregon Short Line Depot. Another chance to sit down and rest, because my little first graders were really beginning to slow. We headed down State Street past all of the beautiful old buildings and learned to look up at the decorative brick work on so many of them.
Turning onto Main and heading west, we learned about the Historic Post office and then zig-zagged back to Pioneer School past as many old-style homes as we could find including the three beautiful old brick homes right beside our school: the Broderson’s, the Fisher’s, and the Leighton’s. My little explorers dragged into school and back to their classroom. I bet they slept well that night, but, oh my, what a great adventure we had!
The day was such a great success that I decided it needed to be part of my curriculum every year. I even invited other teachers to bring their class and join me. By the time I had moved to the 3rd grade as a teacher, our staff decided that it needed to become part of our curriculum every year. Booklets with drawings by Liz Mowery from The Weiser Architectural Book and short facts were added, so the children each had their own copy of the book to refer to and add notes to as we walked and learned. Parents and children would all marvel at how rich the history of our community truly was. It was fun to introduce them to the town they lived in in a way they had never seen it before.
As the years passed and we took off on our yearly fall trek, more fun things were added to our day. Mr. Marvin Triguerio began meeting us at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and letting us go inside to see the beautiful stained-glass windows. He would play the old wooden pipe organ for the classes and sometimes even let a few of the children take a turn at the keys. The St. Agnes Catholic Church always opened its doors and the children learned to be reverent and show respect in holy places as they learned of the mastery that constructed these gorgeous old buildings gracing our community.
In an effort to add some of the earliest buildings in Weiser to our 3rd Grade tour, we began bussing the children down to the Old Red Store on East Main. Then we were also able to go inside the Church of the Advent a couple blocks away, the oldest still standing church in Weiser. The new owners always made the children feel so welcome and shared its story with them dating back to when it was built in the late 1880’s.
In all the years that I have participated in this amazing tour of our Historic Weiser, I have been so impressed with the generosity and kindness of our citizens. How many folks do you know that would open their doors for 120 children to tromp through their halls, and yet it happens year after year.
Now 8 years retired and 35 years after beginning this little trek around our community, the 3rd grade teachers at Pioneer School still follow the same route to teach… always to teach… the love of history and community that we enjoy in our fair Weiser, Idaho.
It has been my privilege to meet them at the Oregon Short Line Depot and share my love of that beautiful, grand old lady. I love the fact that even after all these years, the story of our beginning in Weiser, Idaho, is a story still worth telling.