History from Here

About Ignatz Weil   Weil House, Sandpoint, Idaho Author's photograph, 2023 “Ignatz Weil’s New Residence” In 1909, Weil began a prolonged break from politics. During the summer, he replaced his and Irene’s home on the southeastern corner of First Avenue and Superior Street with a new one. The Pend Oreille Review , in its November 19 edition, dubbed the new residence the “finest” in town. The home still stands and is probably the most beloved built landmark in Sandpoint. Unfortunately, little is known the construction of the three-story house. An article in the June 21, 1910, edition of the Northern Idaho News , however, documents the installation of the “iron fence posts” in front of the structure. According to the article, the posts were set in concrete and gave “the place a neat and attractive appearance.” ( Pend Oreille Review , November 19, 1909, p. 17; Northern Idaho News , June 21, 1910, p. 5) Iron fence, Weil House Author's photograph, 2023 In early May, just weeks before...

About Ignatz Weil   Bonner County Courthouse , c. 1920 Original image, 10.270, courtesy of Bonner County Historical Museum,  Sandpoint, Idaho “SIGNING OF BILL” During the same legislative session in which Ignatz’s case was considered, the legislature passed a law that divided Kootenai County into two counties: Kootenai to the south and Bonner to the north. When Governor Frank R. Gooding signed the bill enacting the division on Thursday, February 21, 1907, Bonner County was officially created. Even as the ink dried on the governor’s signature, Republicans were jostling for control of the several new county positions. ( Pend Oreille Review , February 28, 1907, p. 1)   According to an article in the February 28 edition of the Pend Oreille Review , “appointments of the new officials for Bonner county has proved a hard nut for Governor Gooding to crack. All the officials in Kootenai county whose homes are in the territory of the new county will be appointed to their same pos...

  About Ignatz Weil “SEEN AND HEARD ABOUT TOWN.” According to his 1900 U.S. Census record accessed via Ancestry. com , Ignatz identified his occupation as “accountant.” Had the Census been taken a year later, Ignatz might have listed his occupation as “real estate developer.” During the period from 1901 through 1907, Weil expanded the City of Sandpoint to the southeast by platting three separate additions, all of which bear his name: Weil’s Addition, Weil’s Second Addition, and Weil’s Third Addition.   “ALL ARE ENTHUSIASTIC FOR COUNTY DIVISION” Several years after platting his additions, Weil turned his attention to political matters, and in 1904, was selected to serve on “supervisory committee” formed to promote the division of Kootenai County, in which Sandpoint was located, into two separate ones, to be known as Lewis and Clark counties. The committee achieved its goal in the spring of 1905 when the Idaho Legislature enacted a law that abolished Kootenai County and crea...

About Ignatz Weil “ Ignatz Weil in the Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 ” Ignatz Weil’s journey to Bonner County, Idaho, began in Austria where he was born to Saul Weil and Jette Greenhood on February 27, 1853. Only 18-years-old, Weil immigrated to the United States alone on-board the Silesia, a German passenger ship that arrived in New York City on June 21, 1871, according to information accessed via Ancestry.com . It is not known if he spoke English, or if someone was waiting for him after he arrived.  After he was admitted to the U.S., according to William Hawley in his History of Idaho , Ignatz “took up his abode” in San Francisco. An item in a 1905 edition of the Northern Idaho News , an early Sandpoint newspaper, suggests that San Francisco was his destination because his mother may have already lived there. “Mrs. Weil, mother of Ignatz Weil,” the item reports, “has arrived in the city [Sandpoint] from San Francisco to make her home with her son.” (Hawley, History of Idaho:...