Nob Hill Residences

When the Potlatch Lumber Company (PLC) built the largest white pine mill in the world at Potlatch, the new western enterprise opted to create a company town to attract a steady workforce. Part of the social experiment meant that corporate bosses would bring their families to live in the new town. The south hill, overlooking the Palouse River, was chosen as the area in which to build 18 homes, 10 of them constructed in 1906 for upper management. One reason for locating the homes on Nob Hill was that the prevailing winds blew smoke from the sawmill toward the north hill in town –where the workers lived –and away from the exclusive Nob Hill residences.

Nob Hill residences in Potlatch, Idaho, no date, courtesy of the Potlatch Historical Society.

Nob Hill was laid out on a grid, with all the largest, most expensive homes facing a small park. Most of the homes were designed by C. Ferris White, a Spokane architect hired by PLC to design the company town’s first buildings. William Deary, PLC’s first general manager, claimed 330 Cedar as his residence, with construction costs amounting to $6,342. Allison Laird, who replaced Deary as general manager after Deary’s death in 1913, lived at 310 Cedar, in a home costing $4,171. The homes were spacious, with large porches, many built-in cabinets, and indoor plumbing. Steam heat was piped in from the mill. Interestingly enough, company managers never owned the homes they lived in, but instead rented from the company.

Nob Hill residences in Potlatch, Idaho, no date, courtesy of the Potlatch Historical Society.

Although the Nob Hill residents lived apart from the worker class, there was no encouraged social division. Town residents, workers and managers alike, shopped at the Mercantile, recreated at the town’s gymnasium, and worshipped at the same churches. All children attended company-owned schools, and the same doctors served all social classes. At the same time, long-time resident Joe Cada remembers his fascination at delivering newspapers to Nob Hill and getting a peek into the fine homes with their nicer furnishings. Cada recalled that many who lived on Nob Hill were always gracious in dealing with him, and as he later ran the furniture section at the Mercantile, he remembered selling them their new furniture.


References:

Petersen, Keith C., Company Town: Potlatch, Idaho, and the Potlatch Lumber Company. (Pullman, Washington: Washington State University Press, 1987).

Joe Cada, interview by Barbra Coyner, August 13, 2001, Potlatch Historical Society, Potlatch, ID.