Hailey has more 19th-century buildings than any other town in the Wood River Valley. They include churches, government buildings and residences built during the silver-mining boom of the 1880s. Many other historic buildings date from before World War II.
Now, city officials are taking steps to educate citizens about the significance of those buildings, and perhaps save some from demolition. In the months and years to come, a question facing Hailey residents will be: "How important is the past?"
At a recent city meeting to discuss how to revitalize the downtown core, Hailey resident Rob Lonning and his wife, Elizabeth Jeffrey, were given the first "key to the city" by Mayor Rick Davis.
The symbolic gesture was made to Jeffrey for her contributions to the city's "green building code" as it moves forward during the era of global climate change. Lonning was honored for his contributions as chair of the Hailey Historic Preservation Commission.
The Historic Preservation Commission recently posted for the first time 1,700 photographs of Hailey from the Mallory Collection on the Hailey Library website. The photographs were taken by Hailey resident and amateur photographer Martin Mallory during the 1920s and '30s. They are considered some of the best records of the layout of the town before the modern era. Lonning has used the photos to reconstruct the city's history.
"That is my passion," he said. "I get the sense that people have an interest in Hailey's history. It is my job to formalize that, to talk about it and to share it."
While most of the oldest buildings in Hailey were destroyed over the years, either by fires or wrecking crews, those that remain have wonderful stories attached to them. Lonning would like to see these stories celebrated and the buildings preserved as the city moves forward with a proposed downtown revitalization plan.
"Idaho statutes do not provide any authority to preserve historic buildings," Lonning said. "But many small towns have ordinances that regulate the renovation of historic structures."
Lonning and his family came to Hailey in the late 1990s and joined the newly formed Hailey Historic Preservation Commission after an old house next door to his on Second Avenue was demolished to make way for a duplex. Since that time, the city has established a 120-day waiting period for anyone wanting to demolish a building built before 1941, in case interested parties would like to have the building moved or want to salvage historic pieces of the architecture. But Lonning said the rule cannot preserve a building from demolition if the developer is determined to start over.
"It is still a labor of love to do a historic remodel," he said.
In the 1980s, a group of Hailey residents came together to seek ways to preserve old buildings, including the possibility of establishing a "historic district," which would establish guidelines and incentives for historic preservation. Boise has five historic districts.
"It turned out Hailey did not have a sufficient concentration of historic buildings to establish a historic district," Lonning said. "But we can go ahead and do what we want to identify historic buildings in the city."
The Historic Hailey Walking Tour, compiled by the Historic Preservation Commission in 2007, contains 45 historic sites and buildings throughout the city. The tour guides visitors to historic buildings on Main Street, such as the J.C. Fox Building—which houses city offices—churches, such as Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Second Avenue, and private residences with storied pasts.
The walking tour includes several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Hailey Hotel (originally known as the Rialto Hotel) and the Eben E. Chase House on Bullion Street, which belongs to Hailey Councilwoman Martha Burke, who also serves on the Historic Preservation Commission.
Lonning said several more buildings are prime candidates for the registry, which results in a bronze plaque being placed on the property. Owners of the buildings would have to agree to accept the historic designation for it to occur.
One such building, housing the Wood River Land Trust offices on the corner of Second Avenue and Bullion Street, underwent a "historically accurate" renovation several years ago. Lonning calls this building the "poster child" of historic renovations in the city.
"The Land Trust shows what is possible when people have the will and the wherewithal to do things right," he said.
In an effort to identify five buildings on Main Street worth learning about, the commission took an anonymous donation earlier this year to make five historical signs featuring informative text and historic photographs. The signs will be placed on or near the Hailey Hotel, the Tracy Building (housing the Barkin' Basement), the Watt Building (housing Christopher and Co. jewelers), the Fox Building and the North and Co. building.
Lonning said he expects the buildings to get the signs by summer's end, and perhaps tie in directly with the city Planning Department's goal of building wayfaring signs and kiosks on Main Street to direct tourists to shops and parks in town.
"I think this will be a lovely thing for the city to have. It helps to provide a sense of place," Lonning said.
The Hailey Historic Walking Tour can be seen online at the city of Hailey website: www.haileycityhall.org/historicPreservation.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Hailey Historic Preservation Commission Chair Rob Lonning points out historically significant buildings at the corner of Second Avenue and Bullion Street in front of the Wood River Land Trust offices, which were renovated to preserve historic details based on old photographs. Photo by Willy Cook
