Troy Garage

This building was constructed in 1916 when Olson and Johnson Company (Olaf Olson and August Johnson) built this garage.  Just one year later the garage was sold to W. M. Duthie who later sold it to Lloyd and Linnie Chaney. 

Troy garage as a Ford sales and service center, ca. 1918, coutesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-03-014.

This building has been used as an automobile garage and sales store continuously since 1916.  Due to it's easily identifiable shape and location on main street, the garage has become one of the more photographed sites in Troy during the early 20th century.  Here are some of the photographs of the garage throughout the history of Troy.

Photograph of a parade in Troy in 1921, notice the garage with the Ford sign in the background.  Courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-02-07.

Photograph of a parade in Troy, ID, courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-02-09.

Fourth of July parade in Troy in 1929, notice the garage in the background, courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-05-018.

References:

Dorothy Anderson, Troy City Historian.

Julin, Suzanne, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Troy Downtown Historic District, August, 30, 2009.

Latah County Historical Society.

Troy Post Office

W. M. Duthie built this building in 1913, and the Post Office occupied it from 1913 until 1942.  The building was vacant during World War II; in the 1950s the first floor housed a bakery and cafe while the second floor provided rented rooms.  In 1955 Virginia Johnson operated Virginia's Cafe at this location, which was well-known for its home cooking. 

The Troy Post Office sits second building from the left, this is part of the 4th of July parade in Troy, ID in 1929.  Image courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-05-18.

On one fourth of July Bing Crosby, the famous singer and movie actor, was eating at Virginia's Cafe when a drunk started to harass the waitress.  Bing Crosby told him to leave her alone and when the drunk said something like "Who's gonna make me?"  Bing Crosby stood up to show him, once Mr. Crosby stood up the drunk recognized him and sat down to finish his meal in peace.

Bing Crosby, image courtesy of The Internet Archive, archive.org.

References:

Dorothy Anderson, Troy City Historian

Julin, Suzanne, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Troy Downtown Historic District, August, 30, 2009.

Troy Hospital

This house was built in 1905 by Oscar Larson, a prominent businessman.  When a young Dr. Charles Meyers arrived in Troy, he purchased the house to make it into a five-bed hospital from 1926 to July 12, 1942.  Dr. Meyers employed his sister, Julia Meyers to work as one of his first nurses.  Located on the first floor were his offices, surgery, a two-bed ward, a kitchen and bath.  The second floor contained a second two-bed ward, a single patient room and a room for a nurse.  Since this house had been a home before a hospital it had a kitchen, which was operated by Esther Sandquist and Ella Olson.  These ladies not only cooked for patients and nurses but stoked the Monarch Stove so that the nurses could sterilize the surgical instruments in the oven.

Dr. Meyers cared about the community of Troy a great deal.  Here is an excerpt from the History of Troy edited and compiled by Stella E. Johnson that tells an exceptional story of his character:

"Doc enjoyed taking the boys [his sons, Fritz and Jackie] fishing with him.  When Burl and Alice Trout were expecting a child he had refused the invitation of some of his friends to go fishing.  When they returned to show him their day's catch.  He said "I caught a bigger trout today."

Dr. Meyer's sons Fritz and Jackie are the two young men at the left end of the engine, Troy Fire Department and their engine, 1930s, Courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society, 15-06-011.

Several old-timers in Troy remember having their tonsils removed here.  Children and adults alike took place in what became known as "tonsil Tuesday," and it is said that on Tuesdays there was so many people getting their tonsils removed that "the whole town smelled of ether."

References:

Anderson, Dorothy, Troy City Historian, interview with Zachary Wnek, Moscow, ID, 06/09/2014.

Johnson, Stella E. History of Troy. (Troy, ID: Stella E. Johnson, 1992), 27.

Julin Suzanne, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Troy Hospital, July 25, 2010.