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History · Potlatch

Potlatch’s post office opened in 1905, and 72% of its homes were built before 1940

8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 48 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1906 on.

1905first post office
8on the National Register
72%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Potlatch’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Potlatch began

When was Potlatch founded?

1905

The Potlatch post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 763121 years
Founding year: the first Potlatch post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Potlatch’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Potlatch’s homes were built before 1938.A historic districtThe Workers' Neighborhood Historic District takes in 23 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Potlatch’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Potlatch’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view08393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mil…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Potlatch came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Potlatch.

Read it all →

In 1903, Frederick Weyerhaeuser incorporated the Potlatch Lumber Company (eventually becoming the Potlatch Corporation), naming his son Charles as the President. The directors of the company selected Canadian lumberman William Deary to build a mill somewhere within the company's timber holdings. The townsite was chosen because of proximity to the company's large holdings of Western White Pine on the Palouse River. Potlatch was chosen as the mill site, and in 1904, crews working under W.A. Wilkinson of Minnesota began constructing what would be the largest white pine sawmill in the world.

ChaptersCompany townFollowing the mill's closure

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the National Register

8 listings protect 56 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
8
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
56
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
American Legion Cabin
American Legion Cabin, built 1929Boarding HouseCommercial Historic DistrictFour-Room HouseJoseph A. Terteling HouseNob Hill Historic DistrictWorkers' Neighborhood Historic DistrictThree-Room House
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Bungalow3
Log Bungalow1
American Legion CabinLog Bungalow · Built 1929
Boarding HouseBuilding
Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict
Four-Room HouseBuilding
Joseph A. Terteling HouseBuilding
Nob Hill Historic DistrictBungalow
Workers' Neighborhood Historic DistrictBungalow
All 8 listings
Three-Room HouseBuilding · listed 1986

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Timeline

Potlatch, 1888 to 1985

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Born hereHenry DeBolt is born here
  3. 1891Born hereJane Goude is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Potlatch post office opens
  6. 1906In the archive08393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mill-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag
  7. 1911Born herePat Shea is born here
  8. 1929BuiltAmerican Legion Cabin is built
  9. 1930Born hereGuyle Fielder is born here
  10. 1985In the archiveThree-Room House 1985
By decade

Potlatch, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
08393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mill-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag190608393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mill-Brück & Sohn…PostcardPotlatch, Idaho (1906)1906Potlatch, Idaho (1906)
1910s–1970snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1980s1 item
Three-Room House 19851985Three-Room House 1985
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Latah county (ID) roads2007Latah county (ID) roadsIDMap-doton-Potlatch2004IDMap-doton-Potlatch
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

08393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mill-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag
Retake this view08393-Potlatch, Idaho-1906-Potlatch Mill-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag, 1906

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Potlatch’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

4 famous people were born in Potlatch

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Guyle FielderAmerican-born Canadian ice hockey player · b. 1930
Jane GoudeAmerican actress · b. 1891
P
Pat SheaAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1911
H
Henry DeBoltCanadian politician · b. 1888
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

OnawayIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Potlatch’s history

What year was Potlatch founded?

The Potlatch post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Potlatch?

8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the American Legion Cabin (listed 1986, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Commercial Historic District, the Nob Hill Historic District and the Workers' Neighborhood Historic District, with 48 contributing buildings. 56 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.