Though the founder of Wallace, Colonel William R. Wallace, purchased 80 acres of land on which Wallace stands today, the town was not actually established until 1884, under the name of Placer Center. In 1887, when a city government was created, with Colonel Wallace as mayor, the town was officially renamed
Wallace. When, in 1937, the writers of the American Guide Series book
passed by Wallace they had only a short paragraph of praise for the town, which follows. Today the town is much better appreciated for its history and heritage.
WALLACE 13 m. (2,728 alt.; 3,634 pop.), standing in a triangular valley in which many streams enter the main fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, is the seat of Shoshone County and the distributing center of this large mining and lumbering area. The great fire of 1910 partly destroyed this town, since rebuilt and quite picturesque, with its better homes terraced on the mountainside, row on row. In its lovely little park at the western end is another monument to Mullan. Perhaps the most notable thing about Wallace is its stores, which, at least in regard to food, cater to the most exacting of epicures and offer a greater variety of exotic delicacies than most cities a hundred times its size.
From IDAHO, A GUIDE IN WORD AND PICTURE
With a present population of 784, Wallace, the self proclaimed "Silver Capital of the World", today is much smaller than when it reached its population peak of about 3,900 in the early 1940s. Established in 1884, Wallace's population had reached 3,000 by 1910. It was in 1910 that the
Great Fire of 1910, which burned about 3,000,000 acres (12,141 km2; 4,688 sq mi) in Washington, Idaho, and Montana, took with it a third of the town. To a town intent on mining precious metal, this was looked upon as simply a slight and temporary setback. Moreover, this was the second time that Wallace had experienced a major fire, losing its entire downtown to fire on July 27, 1890. This helps to explain why most downtown buildings date to 1890 and are made predominantly of brick and stone.
An interesting factoid about Wallace is that "
every downtown building is on the National Register of Historic Places". As a result, the government was forced to build I-90,
around Wallace, instead of
through it. Another one is that this area is "
the only place on earth where more than a billion ounces of silver were mined in 100 years." Silver continues to be mined in the area. Yet another is that it is the
Centre of the Universe. Wallace has a sign and a manhole cover that say so. And still another interesting factoid is the fact that Wallace has a
Bordello Museum, housed in a former bordello which operated until 1988. The town, incidentally, was named for its founder,
Colonel William R. Wallace, who, in 1883, bought 80 acres of swamp land which eventually became Wallace.
Wallace, Idaho
Wallace is located in the historic Coeur d'Alene mining district of northern Idaho. The seat of Shoshone county, Wallace today has an economy based on mining and retail trade. In 1980 its population was 1,736. In 1884 Colonel W. R. Wallace and several other men packed to the site of what is now Wallace and built a cabin. The party platted the ground and established a general layout of the town, then known as Placer Center. Also in 1884 lead ore was discovered in the area and placer mining ceased and prospecting followed in earnest. A post office was established on a special route on August 17, 1886 with Mrs. Lucie Wallace as postmistress. In 1887 a city government was set up (Col. Wallace was elected mayor; Jack Dunn, D. C. McKissick and two others were named commissioners) and the town was officially named Wallace in honor of Col. Wallace. With the arrival of the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1887 Wallace became the major supply point and economic center for the rich lead-silver Coeur d'Alene mining district. The town was incorporated in 1888; Col. Wallace, Horace King, C. M. Hall, C. W. Vender, and D. C. McKiss were appointed as the first board of trustees. By 1890 there were 878 people living in Wallace
On July 27, 1890 fire destroyed the entire business section of Wallace. The town, originally built of wood, was rebuilt primarily with brick as the town began to reap the tremendous benefits of the developing lead-silver mines. In 1893 a city charter was obtained; W. S. Haskins was elected the first mayor under the new system. About this time a system of waterworks were installed and hydroelectric plants were constructed near the city. City postal delivery service was established in 1895, with two letter carriers, one substitute carrier, and 13 letter boxes. In 1898 Wallace became the political center of the region in addition to the economic center when it was made the county seat. By 1900 Wallace's population had grown to 2,265; it grew to 3,000 in 1910 before dropping slightly to 2,816 in 1920. It climbed to 3,634 in 1930 and to 3,839 in 1940, which would prove to be its peak population. By 1950 it had dropped to 3,149; between 1960 and 1970 it dropped further, from 2,412 to 2,206. In 1980 Wallace's population was 1,736.
From the NRHP Registration Form