Spirit Lake Idaho Historical Society and Museum

06/17/2026

On Wednesday June 17th at 4 pm, Doug Freeland and Diane Rinck will share memories of their family's long time at Spirit Lake.
On Saturday at 2 pm, Brad Sondahl will present a talk on his family rock and fossil collection, as well as an overview of our local history related to the catastrophic floods around 15,000 years ago when glacial Lake Missoula emptied repeatedly through this area...
Does this rock look familiar? Everyone who has been here has probably driven right by it...

05/23/2026

https://youtu.be/iehRMlne7qQ

Presented at the Spirit Lake Idaho Historical Museum spiritlakehistory.org

05/14/2026

Our monthly meeting starts again on May 20th at 4 pm at the museum (6th and Jefferson, Spirit Lake). Mandi Conway will share stories and pictures from her trip to Morocco.



The museum will open for the summer on May 23 from 1-4 pm.

If you would like to help keep the museum open by being a host, contact one of the board members--Brad and Althea Sondahl, Paul Sturm, Mary Jo Foss, John Weiss, and Sam Hughes.

We are adding new items to our collection this year (with board approval), including a stereo-opticon viewer and stereo photos (my generation's version was the Viewmaster 3D viewer) and a collection of rocks and fossils to add to our natural history...



Here's an ad for the I W and N Railroad from around 1910 showing how many of our local lakes are joined together as tourist destinations.

03/26/2026

This is historic:

A large chunk of private forest land near Mount Spokane is now permanently protected from development.

03/20/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpL5SIgNkRc Here's the video of last weekend's variety show, thanks to Steven Peak who recorded and posted it...

Spirit Lake Idaho, Old fashioned Variety Show Here are the performers in order of appearance: Brad Sondahl has written music and played several instruments f...

03/12/2026

Here's our updated poster for the show tomorrow-- Just to be clear, this is a variety show and not a church service... 7 pm Friday the 13th! A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

02/27/2026

Final film of our winter series is Friday at 7

02/21/2026

Save the date! Friday March 13--a local variety show at the Presbyterian Church in Spirit Lake...

02/18/2026

Our penultimate film of this winter series on Friday night

02/18/2026

Wednesday 2/18 at 4 pm at the museum: Please join us to hear the history of our local service non-profit "Cup of Grace" which was formed in 2017 and led by Amy Privitt until her recent resignation as executive director.. Amy and her husband Mark are moving and will leave behind a legacy of "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" in our community. This talk will capture a unique chapter of fresh Spirit Lake history, first hand, from Amy's personal perspective. We hope you will come for Amy's sharing and be enriched by this opportunity, Wednesday February 18, at the Museum, 6th and Jefferson, Spirit Lake.