Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

40 YEARS AGO • JUNE 1, 1978

PLANS BEING DRAWN FOR NEW COUNTY JAIL

Bids may be called this summer for construction of a new jail and offices for the Sanders County sheriff’s office. The project is expected to cost about $300,000.

The building will be built of brick and concrete masonry blocks with a partial basement under the office portion of the structure. The cell blocks will be on the ground floor and will have a capacity of 26 prisoners – 16 adult males, four females and four juveniles, plus one isolated, solitary-type cell.

The cell block also will contain an “overnight” tank.

The offices and cells will be on the same level so that one person can oversee the jail while still handling dispatcher duties at the radio desk. The partial basement will be under the office portion.

Wells said the structure will contain 4,508 square feet on the main floor with an additional 1,500 square feet in the basement.

The building is to be located at the northeast corner of the present jail, but the two buildings will not be connected.

State officials have advised county officials that unless a new jail is provided, the present facility would be closed and the county forced to transport prisoners to Missoula County and pay that county for keeping them. Wells said that such a system would be extremely expensive for Sanders County in the long run.

The former county jail house became The Old Jail Museum in the early 1980s.

MAIN STREET GETS NUMEROUS CHANGES

Changes in ownership, business moves and face liftings along Thompson Falls’ Main St. continue at a rapid pace here with more than half of the year still remaining.

Construction got underway this week on a 22 by 40-foot concrete building on West Main St. (now First American Title Co.) to house a new Doughnut Stable, operated by Yvonne Gunn and son, Gerald Gunn. At present the bakery is operated from the Gunn home.

E. “Bill” Manley, president of the First State Bank of Montana announced Tuesday that the bank had purchased the building formerly housing the Post Office and now occupied by the Montana Job Service (now Little Bitterroot Thrift Store). Manley said the Montana Job Service would continue to occupy the building.

The building was erected in 1957 by Larsons & Greene, Inc.

The bank owns the three vacant lots adjacent to the building, which formerly was the location for Larsons & Greens, Inc. until the general store was destroyed by fire in February 1968.

Last week the Valley Insurance Agency moved from the building owned by the law firm of Mahoney, Baxter and Fletcher to the American Land Title Co. of Sanders County building on east Main St. in the space formerly occupied by the H&R Block Income Tax Service office.

Nearing completion is the sale of Reller’s Hotel Bar to a family from Oregon and Alaska.

The town’s only clothing store changed ownership May 1 and has been renamed Country Casuals. Jim Frost is general manager and part owner (now Main St. Medical).

On the strip along Highway 200 east of Thompson Falls, the C&C Supply Co. expects to begin moving into its new home this week. The steel and frame building was completed recently by L&S Construction Co. of Thompson Falls.

Largest construction project in Thompson Falls is the $500,000 three-story addition to the Sanders County Courthouse. Work on the Courthouse addition began in December and is to be completed this fall.

Appearance-wise a major improvement to Main St. has been the razing of the burned out building that formerly housed Weaver’s Café. The burned out structure has been an eyesore on Main St. for several years until the new lot owners completed razing of the building earlier this month (this was located just west of the Highlead Saloon and is currently vacant).

Another recent move was relocating of Bill’s Barbershop from the Belville Building (now Genki Café) to the Towne House Hotel (more popularly known as the Black Bear Hotel, the barbershop was located on the west corner of the building).

Don Grimm has opened his wood carving art studio in the space formerly occupied by Bill Chisenhall’s barbershop. Grimm features wood carvings of wildlife and American Indians.

In addition to the Main St. changes, the Christian Church is erecting a new sanctuary, on east Haley Ave.

Work also is underway on a 20 by 24-foot addition to the front of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church.

Several houses are in various stages of erection within the city limits.

The activity in this county-seat town has lived up to the prediction of one observer early this year, when he stated, “There’s going to be a lot of changes in Thompson Falls this year.”

Scheduled for completion by late summer is the new Thompson Falls swimming pool, a joint effort of the town of Thompson Falls with local citizens, School District 2 and matching funds supplied by the Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.