It's the stuff that intriguing mystery novels are made of. Or not...
The case of the DISAPPEARING HIGH SCHOOL!
(This post has been UPDATED...see below, under the photo...)

UPDATED AGAIN: I brought forth, from the 'comments' section, some details I was unaware of, so be sure to scroll down even further; look for the italicized print, and go from there.

Okay, okay, I'm getting carried away here. Occasionally the side of me that wrote advertising copy long ago gets loose and I've gotta go out and chase it down. Consider me "corraled." I found a picture that intrigues me. First, I'll supply some "preamble" copy...I guess if I'm gonna "amble", it might as well be "pre-amble", huh?

Some historical (hysterical?) background: Coeur d'Alene High School, located in Dalton Gardens, was built in 1970-71. Lakes Middle School, located at 15th and Hastings, which formerly housed Coeur d'Alene High School, was built sometime in the '50s (I'm guessing). Before that, Coeur d'Alene High School had been located at the southeastern corner of 7th and Montana Avenue. It was a beige brick building, occupying the north half of what is now Phippeny Park, and it was ready in time for the 1910 school year, according to its cornerstone.

Right next door to it, occupying the south half of that park, was the old Coeur d'Alene JUNIOR high school, built in the 1920's. The name of the school was actually carved in stone at the building's front entrance, by the way. A small annex to the Junior High School building still stands, just south of the basketball court in that park, and it features the same dark color of brick that was used for the Junior High building. The city stores various equipment items in there. (I guess.) When I attended school, the two buildings (where Phippeny Park is now) comprised 7th, 8th and 9th grades. I attended those grades from 1967-1969. And, those were huge buildings, each had 3 floors of high-ceiling'd classrooms.

Okay, now that I've got you all confused, I'm gonna confuse you some more. Remember, I said up above, that the old CDA High School's cornerstone says "1910"? Well, there was ANOTHER high school building here, before THAT, and I've never SEEN that building before. But, I came across a picture of it, and it's posted here. I really don't know where THIS old building was located, but I have a couple of guesses:



Here is the old, old, old, OLD Coeur d'Alene High School building, pictured on a 1907 postcard! I have two guesses as to where this building was located. My first guess is where the old former Roosevelt School building, located on Wallace Ave. between 1st and 2nd Streets, still stands; it's NOW a bed and breakfast place. It's located in one of the town's oldest neighborhoods; it's not far from the lake, and of course, the older neighborhoods are nearest the lake, with people living farther and farther from the lake in newer 'hoods as the city grew.

My SECOND guess involves another semi-confusing scenario. (!!!) In grades 2,3, and 4, I went to Central School, which is now a day-care facility on the corner of 6th and Wallace, a large red brick building, smack dab in the middle of the older part of town. Only, I've read that the ORIGINAL Central School building, at that same location, burned down long, LONG ago, and the old building you see there now (the day care facility, remember?) is actually the NEW "former Central School building".

I saw a picture of that "first" Central School building a while back, and it resembled the above photo. Of course, the building that's there now looks NOTHING like the above photo. Maybe the "old" Central School building burned down after it housed Coeur d'Alene High School students until the High School Students moved to the 7th and Montana building in 1910? That's a possibility. All depends on what year the "first" Central School burned down, and that's something I don't know.

Blog Update department: I drove past the old Roosevelt School, at 1st and Wallace, now a bed and breakfast, the day after I wrote this post, and it turns out that building DOES look like the photo in this post, with a taller "center" section and "wings" on either side. The picture of the "first" Central School building, at 6th and Wallace (the one that burned down), also looked like the photo here. Either building could have house the "first" Coeur d'Alene High School.

So...WHERE was the building in this photo LOCATED? That's the question. Normally, I'm never confused about these things, but heck, I've gone back almost 100 years here. So you armchair sleuths, get going and help me out here! Because, I've (almost) got a case of burnout, while typing this cumbersome post at nearly 4 in the &%$#!!! morning. In closing, what I've been looking for, for AGES, is an old picture of the two large school buildings on 7th and Montana Avenue that I referred to above. I'd love to put those buildings in this blog.

BLOGGERS' UPDATE:

I brought the following forward from the "comments" section because it was so informative, and provides a perspective that I don't have, and it contains a lot of interesting detail that I didn't know...

The original Central School was located at 7th and Wallace--where GTE built the present building across the street from the old Methodist church. An annex was built in 1908 (probably due to overcrowding--no portables back then!--but maybe to house elementary students so that the building could be used as the high school only). I believe the original Central morphed into the high school before it burned down. Also, the levy for the present CHS was passed in the spring of 1969. Ground was broken in August of that year and the new school opened in the fall of 1970.I think our high school on Hastings (now Lakes) opened in 1953...so that building is almost as old now as the North building was when we went there in the mid- to late-sixties.
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Before I close this thing down, I'd like to memorialize one of my favorite country-music artists, Buck Owens, who passed away over this last weekend. Long before he starred on the "Hee-Haw" show, I remember hearing his records on the radio; "Act Naturally", "Tiger By The Tail", "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass", "Big In Vegas" and many others. I thought he brought a sort of "pop sensibility" to country music. Plus, he had a great voice. Geeze, Johnny Cash, and now Buck Owens? Who's the "third" gonna be?