HAYDEN - Behind a house on Lacey Avenue are two aging, wooden structures that look as though they were constructed many years ago.

An old, rusty horseshoe is nailed to one of the doors, which swings on creaky hinges. A tree is growing from the steps that lead to the gray wooden porch. The railing that surrounds the porch is constructed of thin, round logs, with thicker round logs serving as the beams that are beginning to collapse under the mossy roof.

It looks like exactly the place where a cowboy would have tied his horse and rested his heels while traveling through the prairie to Westwood or on his way to the Coeur d'Alene Mountains.

A former resident of the home on the property speculated the buildings might have been built in the 1800s, per information he said he received from a former owner.

The home on the property was built in 1924, but the true age and purpose of the buildings seem to be a mystery.

Richard Morrison of Spirit Lake said when he resided there, people would frequently stop to look at the buildings.

"When I lived there, there was a really old stove from back in the day," he said.

One of the structures is conjectured to be an old stagecoach station while the smaller possibly could have been a post office, although Hayden resident Rob Jobes, who grew up on the east side of Lacey Avenue, doesn't think it was used for mailing services.

"I don't think it was a post office or a stagecoach all my life," said Jobes, who has lived in Hayden since the early 1950s. "Since my memory, way back when, probably when I was at least 6 years old, the post office used to be at the end of Miles Avenue, right south of where the Avondale entrance is."

A call to the Kootenai County Assessor's Office revealed the age of the house on the property; the buildings in the rear are considered "miscellaneous sheds that were deemed of no value" and the property was purchased in 2014 by Trail Creeks Development, LLC. An attempt to contact the current registered agent of the LLC was not successful.

"They're developing houses back there, I think that's all coming down," Morrison said. "I think it should be moved somewhere or given to someone instead of torn down. Back in the day, you never know what happened there."

Several inquiries have been placed with local historians and historical societies to unravel the mystery of the old buildings.

"The community theater was out there when it first started, and I wonder if it was a part of that," said historian Robert Singletary.