Businesses
Historical photographs are in the public domain unless otherwise credited. Uncredited present-day photographs are by the author.
Photo credit: Barb Sinsley
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Hotel Bovill The fascinating tale of the Hotel Bovill and the Bovill family begins in Victorian England. Hugh Bovill was born there as the thirteenth son of Lord and Lady William Bovill. In the early 1880s, Hugh immigrated to America and settled in Colorado, where he developed a horse and cattle ranch. As fate would have it, the Wild West is where he met his future wife, Charlotte, who was also from England. She was visiting her sister in Nebraska in 1887. After a brief courtship, they married and had two daughters, Dorothy and Gwendolyn, in 1895 and 1897, respectively. |
Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: Idaho Cities and Towns Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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In 1891, while the couple was living in Nebraska, a pioneer named Francis Warren was building a log cabin homestead in faraway Idaho, in an area known as Warren Meadows. As more settlers migrated west to Nebraska and filed homestead claims, finding enough rangeland became a problem for ranchers like Hugh. Searching for open rangeland, in 1899 he embarked on an arduous 1,500-mile journey northwest to Moscow, Idaho, and then south on horseback to Warren Meadows. He liked what he saw and promptly purchased 580 acres from Francis Warren in 1901, including the log cabin Warren had built. He then brought Charlotte and the young children back to Warren Meadows and built them a beautiful house, as shown here. There are no fewer than four bearskins on display in this photo, along with two mounted elk. The family was fond of dogs, as they appear in numerous historical photographs. |
Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Charlotte Bovill is seen here posing with her four-footed companion in front of their home. She was a true pioneer woman, respected by all who knew her. Charlotte was famous for her cooking, which included roasted bear, venison, huckleberry pie, ginger beer, and rhubarb wine. As their ranching operations continued, the area became increasingly popular with sportsmen. Elk were transported from Yellowstone and released into the wild near Bovill for this reason. At some point, Hugh and Charlotte came up with the idea of building a hotel and resort. They added an extension to their house and began operating it as a hotel. In addition to rooms on the first floor, it had thirteen rooms on the second floor and could accommodate up to fifty guests during the summer season. The town grew, and so did business at the hotel, which now served railroad workers and loggers as well as sportsmen. For a time, Charlotte served as a nurse at a tent hospital that treated injured workers. |
Photo: Idaho Cities and Towns Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society
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Pubic domain map, annotated
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Massive logging operations decimated the forests and destroyed the pristine environment enjoyed by sportsmen. The situation got progressively worse to the point that Hugh and Charlotte could no longer continue their hotel business. They made the difficult decision to abandon everything and move to Coeur d’Alene. After being away for about twenty years, Hugh and Charlotte had a change of heart and decided to return and resurrect their businesses. Unfortunately, their expectations met with reality and their business failed once again. With heavy hearts, they were forced to abandon their beloved hotel a second time, this time permanently. Hugh passed away in Oregon in 1935 and Charlotte in California in 1947. The first addition to the house was an addition to the right, which included three more dormers on the front of the second floor, giving the hotel six dormers on the front and six at the rear. Next, they built a store on their property further to the right of the addition. Eventually a second addition was built that connected the hotel to the store, resulting in a single L-shaped building. |
Photo: The Trees Grew Tall Photograph Collection, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections
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Photo courtesy of the Latah County Historical Society
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Photo credit: Barb Sinsley
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Photo credit: Barb Sinsley
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Photo credit: Ian Poellet via Wikipedia.com, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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As of 2015, this was the condition of Hotel Bovill and the store. The lean-to on the right once served as the Bovill Post Office. Some of the doors to the hotel remain open and unsecured, exposing the room to the mercy of the winter weather. The building was last used in the 1980s, so looking inside reveals debris that has accumulated over the past forty years. |
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Corral Store The story of the town of Corral begins in 1884 when Edward and Harriet Burnett settled in this part of the Camas Prairie. Corral was named after nearby Corral Creek, which got its name from the corrals that early ranchers had created by taking advantage of the dips and hollows in the surrounding landscape. By 1909, Corral’s population reached its peak of forty. In 1911, a railroad line reached Corral to service the grain elevators. By the 1920s, the Corral Store was operating as a stagecoach stop, which included the Corral Post Office. |
Photo credit: Nancy DeWitt
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Fast forward forty years to 1968, when Bob and Mamie Ertter, both Idaho natives who had been living in California for the past seventeen years, returned to Idaho and purchased the Corral Store. Bob had a good job in San Francisco working with tugboats and barges. He did not want to quit his job in California, but he also wanted to run his store in Corral. The solution? He flew from San Francisco to Boise to work for one week at the Corral Store. Bob would then fly back to San Francisco to work there for a week. This earned him the nickname “Prairie Captain.” Meanwhile, Mamie served as postmistress and helped pump gas for weary and disoriented travelers who stopped at the store to fuel up. |
Photo credit: Nancy DeWitt
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During one winter in the late 1970s, a pair of truck drivers were traveling on U.S. Highway 20 through Corral when they were hit by a severe windstorm. Here is part of Kevin Swan’s story: "A few hours into an afternoon spent listening to Hank Williams Jr. and Ray Price, a couple of locals came in to collect an order they had placed some time earlier. The owner of the bar approached the driver and me. “Sorry, boys, I’m gonna close up here in a little.” He hurried to bus our table as he talked. 'I know you fellas got nowhere to go, so I’m working on getting you an invitation to a birthday party.' Turned out we were welcome at the party...I had a great time and met lots of wonderful people." |
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Nancy DeWitt, who was related to Bob, said that the store was the stuff of “memories and movies, that store looks super and spotless, no junk, uncle E. was a hard worker…” During the Ertters’ ownership of the Corral Store, it was reported that signs along Highway 20 exclaimed, “It’s Coffee Time!” as one approached the store. The Corral Store was the quintessential country store. It was the center of social life for the tiny town, not just a place to pick up your mail, but a place to enjoy the companionship of your friends and neighbors. The Corral Store serves as a silent reminder of those long-gone days, thanks to Bob and Mamie Ertter. |
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Magee's Bar and Grill Magee’s Bar and Grill is situated on the Snake River Plain in Bingham County, just off Highway 26 between Blackfoot and Arco, in the middle of nowhere. Situated in the high desert at an elevation of over 5,000 feet and near widespread ancient lava fields, the area was completely unsuitable for farming. The closest town is Atomic City, notable for being the world’s first town with electricity produced by a nuclear reactor, hence its name. Magee’s was a popular stop for many of the thousands of workers at the nearby US Dept of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, which was home to dozens of nuclear reactors. |
Photo credit: Jess Jackson via Flickr
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In 1951, Highway 26 was built to provide a more direct route between Blackfoot and Arco. However, unlike the original highway that ran right through Atomic City, the new highway completely bypassed the town, essentially turning it into a ghost town. The area’s decline was further exacerbated by the decommissioning of the EBR-1 nuclear reactor and the resulting job losses. Some saw an opportunity. A local resident named Mr. Reagan built a bar and grill at the intersection of the new highway and the side road leading to Atomic City. The idea worked, and Magee's developed into a very popular destination for locals and travelers as well. |
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The business went through several owners and name changes over the years. In the 1960s, it was owned by Glen Jex. He was a pilot who would land his old biplane on the side road next to the building and taxi it right into the parking lot, undoubtedly surprising any new customers. At one time, it was called Sam’s Place, known for Sam’s sausages cooked in beer. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was owned by Mr. Copeland, who promptly renamed it Copeland’s. Then Matt Magee arrived. Matt purchased the business from Mr. Copeland and renamed it Magee’s. Being of Irish descent, Matt transformed Magee’s into an Irish-themed establishment. |
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Recollections from those who visited Magee’s are rather remarkable. On one occasion, a horse was ridden into the bar, and the horse drank some beer. This sounds like the opening lines of some kind of joke. Towards closing time, customers could get all the free beer they wanted as long as they did not mind drinking what was left over on the tables. One individual recalls a childhood memory of stopping there with her mother, where Matt would give them sodas and candy. Weekends were raucous, with live music, billiard tournaments, mouse races, and even waitresses wearing scanty lingerie. |
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Jessica had this to say about her stop at Magee’s: "Stopped by there in 2011 on a road trip to the Grand Canyon from Washington. I really had to pee. The bathrooms had pictures from Playboy magazine on the walls and no doors :). My mom and I both used the bathrooms there. It was pretty quiet in the middle of the day and bowls of peanuts were on all the tables. Definitely heard banjos playing in the background. It was the highlight of our trip to drop into such a colorful place. Atomic city definitely had booked way earlier on. Nothing but a raceway and potato mounds." |
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Wagon Wheel Cafe and Motel The cafe and motel in Blackfoot were built by Joe Davis, probably in the 1950s. Mae Davis was the cook, and her legendary fish & chips were to die for. It was very popular with the people of Blackfoot. Perhaps the Wagon Wheel Cafe is best recollected by its past loyal customers. These comments were posted on social media. "My first place of employment! David was the cook; Fish and chips, Rocky Mountain oysters :) oh to be 16..." - Candice |
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"I remember the kindness of the people working at the Wagon Wheel Cafe. When I was 13 years old in 1969, I was delivering newspapers and it was a freezing winter morning, and when I delivered their paper, they invited me in to warm up and gave me a hot chocolate drink at no charge. I was very thankful." - Jay "I used to love that place when I was growing up. We would go there once in a while for breakfast after church and while the adults ordered the usual morning stuff I always had a hamburger and fries. I would look at those old horse racing photos for hours." - Ann |
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"This was my home away from home growing up, the rodeo team would meet in the basement and we all hung out there. The horse racing gang was there in the morning and afternoon and we all had pictures on the wall of our rides." - Michael "Went there for dinner a lot with my family growing up. All there food was delicious! I remember they had a mini-jukebox at each table and you'd put money in it to play your favorite songs. The fish and chips were to die for!" - Glen |
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Franklin County Sugar Company Franklin County Sugar Company located in Preston, Idaho, processed locally grown sugar beets for 40 years, from 1922 to 1962, and employed up to 350 people during the harvest season. During this time the plant processed up to 100,000 tons of beets annually. In the 1930s and 1940s production decline dramatically. During the factory’s final year in operation, it processed over 190 million pounds of sugar beets. |
Public domain photo
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Photo credit: Sam Scholes via Flickr
Photo credit: Sam Scholes via Flickr
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Photo credit: Sam Scholes via Flickr
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Photo credit: Arbyreed via Flickr
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Photo credit: Mike Needham
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Wickahoney Stagecoach Stop The sparse remains of Wickahoney State Stop can be found in the remote, sagebrush covered desert of southern Owyhee County, essentially in the middle of nowhere. The area was first homesteaded in the 1890s by Dow Dunning, accompanied by his father, Dr. Joshua Dunning. The Dunnings chose this location because a spring located just up the hill provided enough water to irrigate over 100 acres of farmland and support more than 300 head of cattle and 100 horses. |
Public domain photo
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Photo courtesy of the Owyhee County Historical Society
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Photo credit: Mike Needham
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From 1895 to 1911, Wickahoney had its own post office inside the stagecoach stop, run by Dow Dunning’s wife, Margaret, serving the small community. With a reliable water supply, Wickahoney was an ideal location for a stagecoach stop, as it was the only stop on the 60-mile route from Bruneau heading south to Riddle. The most unusual feature of the Wickahoney stagecoach stop is that it was constructed of massive blocks of basalt stone. The building had two floors, eight rooms, and a second-floor balcony with a railing. |
Photo credit: Nicholas DiPietro
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Tragedy struck Wickahoney in the year 2000. A wildfire wiped out the entire town. Not a single building remains except for the crumbling walls of the stagecoach stop, thanks to its stone construction. The building is almost 130 years old. It may last for another hundred years or more if it can survive the elements. When rainwater freezes in the cracks in the walls, it expands and pushes the basalt stones apart, eventually causing walls to collapse. |
Photo credit: Nicholas DiPietro
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Photo credit: Nicholas DiPietro
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These are just a sampling of the historical and present-day photographs of abandoned businesses and industries in Idaho. For more photographs and intriguing stories about Idaho's abandoned schools, railroads, and businesses, see Abandoned Idaho by Howard Frisk, which is now available.
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Photographs and text copyright Howard Frisk unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Our Wonders of the Pacific Northwest 2026 Calendar is now available. It features 12 original photographs of iconic landscapes of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho by acclaimed landscape photographer, Howard Frisk. Click on the picture below to see the month-by-month photographs.
