COAST to COAST BUILDING
(BLOCK 35; LOTS 16 & 17)
Since the early 20th Century, this choice two-lot site in the middle of Central Avenue has hosted a variety of businesses, serving the needs of a growing little town. The Reed jewelry store, Young's Barber Shop, the Lee Dress Shop, a cleaning establishment, Andy's Real Estate and Insurance, and Rein Electric were among the fledgling enterprises that operated here in the first half of the century.
Several well-known local families -- the Houstons, the Trippetts, the Moultons -- owned parts or all of this property at one time or another in its early days.
In the mid-'40s, the site was the home of Lion Mountain VFW Post 276. Fred Tintinger ran a radio shop on the south 25 feet of the property.
Coast to Coast hardware store was started at this location in the 1940s by a family named Cutting. In 1947, Russ Ramlow and his new bride, Mary Ellen, took over operation of the store from the Cuttings, who had raised Russ. The Ramlows owned and ran Coast to Coast for almost 30 years, expanding the original single-lot store front to a second lot next door.
John and Alma Schumaier bought the store from the Ramlows in 1976, continued the hardware business, and owned the property until 1987. It continued to operate as a Coast to Coast store under Jimmy Welsh but he soon moved the business to the south edge of Whitefish. The subsequent owners of this site, Troy and Peggy Bertelsen, converted the building to a health club.
In 1991, the property was sold to Sam and Donna McGough, who remodeled it yet again and opened Tomahawk Trading Co. in this building, with Mrs. Spoonover's old-fashioned sandwich shop to the north.
Sponsored by the
Stumptown Historical Society and the Whitefish Community Foundation
From the plaque at the building