Stumptown society celebrates 25th year

A quarter century ago, a group of Whitefish folks got together to share memories and stories of their town's early days.

"They started collecting artifacts, having ice cream socials and reminiscing about the good old days," Jill Evans said.

In 1982, their passion for preserving the past became Stumptown Historical Society. Evans became the director five years ago.

"We take our responsibility extremely seriously - taking care of our history," Evans said. "It's not a glib thing to do."

The society, headed by board president Jackie Adams, now has more than 200 members from all parts of the United States and Canada.

Their efforts saved Whitefish's fading bygone days in photos, books, interviews and artifacts. As the society celebrates its 25th anniversary, no accomplishment shines brighter than the renovation of the circa 1927 Whitefish Railway Depot.

Acquired for $1 in 1990 from Burlington Northern, the depot was spared from a wrecking ball. But it wasn't quite the bargain it sounds, even though Great Northern spent $65,000 building the depot 80 years ago.

"We put $850,000 in it to bring it up to code," Evans said.

Suffering from decades of decay, the deteriorating structure harbored mold and asbestos. It also required handicap accessibility, updated wiring and fire sprinklers.

Thanks to a dedicated depot committee, the historical society rounded up the donations and hours of volunteer labor to remodel the interior to include an Amtrak waiting room, ticket sales office and baggage room.

The initial work took three years but expenditures on improvements haven't stopped as the society returned the building to its chalet-like splendor. A new roof, finished two years ago, simulates the aged cedar of its first days.

"Four years ago, we repainted the building and brought it back to its original colors," Evans said.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad occupies the second floor while the third floor houses the Stumptown Historical Society offices and several other businesses. The society's museum has filled an area next to the Amtrak lobby with railroad and town artifacts and information.

"Amtrak put 68,000 people through this lobby," Evans said. "It's the biggest stop between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seattle."

Evans, the society's only paid staff, said museum volunteers get a charge out of meeting people from all over the world as they inform them about Whitefish and Flathead Valley history or sell them books or gifts.

"It's a funky little museum that people just love," Evans said.

Visitors spend hours pouring over the packed displays of artifacts, including many from Great Northern Railroad's early days. Youngsters can't resist ringing the huge steam engine bell.

"We let children do that one time," Evans said with a laugh, as she demonstrated the bell's ear-splitting peal.

Older visitors enjoy a variety of Whitefish books, including a general history called "From Stump Town to Ski Town," a pictorial history called "Whitefish, Montana's North Star," and a personal history named "Growing Up in Whitefish" by Frank Gregg.

The society compiled the last two from its huge collection of more than 5,000 photos and the late Gregg's memoirs as a hometown boy. He was a treasured member and volunteer with the historical society.

"When Frank died, I was devastated," Evans said. "I had never written down any of his stories down."

She was honored as the only female member of a group that met at the Pin & Cue to listen to Gregg's idyllic tales of growing up in the small railroad town. Luckily, Gregg had recorded many which his big brother Wes donated to the society.

Sales of Gregg's and other books, along with depot rents and sales of one-time-use of pictures, support much of the Stumptown Historical Society's work. Evans hopes to create more books from each of the pictorial history's chapters.

"It would be a wonderful endeavor," she said.

Evans considers the photo collection the organization's greatest asset. She said the society continues to expand the collection originally received from the Whitefish Library when it joined the county system.

To preserve these photographs, historical society volunteers scanned them on to CDs then DVDs and purchased a sophisticated computer system to keep track of them as well as the donated artifacts in its collection.

Evans held up a thick volume of "Preferred Practices for Historical Repositories" which she tapped to begin creating policies and procedures to properly care for treasures which residents often donate.

She particularly enjoys receiving items that revive important aspects of a bygone lifestyle.

"Someone called who has ice tongs they found in their house in the '70s," Evans said. "They were still cutting ice off the lake in the 1960s."

The Whitefish pictorial history depicts the process from photos of men sawing up cubes of ice off Whitefish Lake to a circa 1923 team of dappled horses dragging an ice-laden sled.

To celebrate 25 years of saving memories as well as the depot's 80th birthday, the historical society has planned a community picnic on Aug. 6 from 4 to 7 p.m. The event will take place in the Parkside Credit Union park just south of the depot in Whitefish.

It's a chance to learn more as well as visit other treasures saved by the society, such as the Great Northern Railway Locomotive #181 and the "Bruck."

"It's a cross between a bus and a truck that hauled passengers and freight between Whitefish, Kalispell and Columbia Falls," Evans said.

As director of the society, Evans has a bird's-eye view of how much Whitefish has changed but she expressed no regrets. She said she embraces change as history in the making.

"If you don't change, you die," she said. "These are our 'good old days' in Whitefish."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com