The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1914-06-26

happy couple were John Levander and
Sarah Cox, who were married October
l9, 1854. There were not many social
affairs. The people would attend
meeting and as soon as that was over
they turned the meeting into a dance.
The first buildings were built on
the site which is now Caldwell in June
1888. Several years previous to this
there was a small place about a mile
and a half west of where Caldwell
now stands consisting OF a house
or two saloon and a black
smith shop. This place was cal
led Bugville. When the survey was
made for the railroad, the the site o.
Caldwell was laid out. The town was
then very SMALL in order to raise
taxes they fixed the boundaries of the
city so that it took in six miles OF
railroad on which taxes were levied.
The main part of the town was then
along Arthur street between 9TH and
Kimball and on Main street between
5th and 9th. The part of town be-
tween 5th and 9th caught fire one night
and the whole section was reduced to
ashes and has never been rebuilt. The
town was then nearly all saloons,
about every other place being a sa-
loon. The first birth in Caldwell was
Abel Caldwell Huntington, Bob
Young and Miss Hopkins.
The social diversions were church
doings in order to help build up the
churches. In 1884 Caldwell started to
grow. The first brick buildings were
then erected where Cupples Mercan-
tile, Flynn's Grocery and Maxey &
Schnabers Hardware stores are now
located. These buildings were built
in 1884 BY Mr.. NJ. B. Gwinn. Sher
man Coffin. The brick yard
where the bricks were made was sit
uated where Lake Howard was. In
1887 the |. o. 0. F. built their hall
at the corner Of 9TH and Main, where
it still stands. In 1890 the Masonic
lodge was built on 9TH and Main where
the First National bank now stands.
In 1890 A. A. Hoover and DR.. A. F.
lsham erected the present Opera
House. In 1884 the first circus came
to town This was a great event be-
cause the population of Caldwell at
that time was only six hundred, but
the circus managers said they seated
over eight thousand people. The
people came for miles around to see
this circus and pitched their tents all
around the town until it looked as
If the place was besiged by an army.
The first church built in Caldwell
was the Baptist church built at what
is now Chicago and 18th. The first
minister was Rev. B. F. Morrow, who
preached the first sermon ever preach
ed in Idaho, about Christmas time in
1904. The next church to be built
was the Presbyterian church with
Kew. w. J. Boone as its first pastor.
The Methodist church was built in
1890 and the first minister was Rev.
Robert E. Gwinn. The Athletic Hall
was built in 1890 just off of Kimball
in 1890, this hall was sold in 1898 to
the Christian church to be used as a
church.
Some OF the first improvements
were the Methodist ditch, built in
1882 and finished in 1884 or S. The
other ditch was built by Mr.. ]. F.
McCullom in 1884. After these two
bitches were built the people began
to plant trees and grass.
The first railroad to pass through
Caldwell was in September 1888, The
telegraph was put in at the same time.
Caldwell was at the end of the rail
road for just about a week. The first
passenger trains were passenger
coaches fastened to the back of a long
string of freight cars. The first pas
senger train to go through was in
1884
The first school building was the
old public school built at what is now
the corner of Chicago and 9th. The
building is still standing but was cut
in two and made into houses. The
first teacher was Miss Leach. The
next school was the Lincoln school,
built in 1888. which consisted of but