COEUR d’ALENE — Historic Coeur d’Alene Homes — Then & Now — will be the focus of the new Inland Northwest Milestone Lecture series by regional historian Robert Singletary at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library.

The series, presented in partnership with the Museum of North Idaho, will feature some of the historic homes built on East Sherman Avenue in the early 1900s, beginning Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m., with the J.C. White House, recently moved from Sherman Avenue to the base of Tubbs Hill in the City Hall/library campus. The White House will serve as the future home of the museum.

Original owners of these homes were men prominent in such industries as lumbering, railroading, steam-boating, banking and real estate.

“They came to Coeur d’Alene when it was a village of about 500, struggling to make a name for itself after years of being a military town,” said Singletary, who serves as marketing and program director for the museum and who was recently named to the Coeur d’Alene Historic Preservation Commission. He also serves on the Historic Preservation Commission for Kootenai County.

In 1900, there were only a few private homes scattered around the city. By 1915, more than 70 new additions had been platted and hundreds of homes, ranging from simple cottages to mansions, were constructed. Some of the earliest and most impressive homes were built on East Sherman Avenue, just a few blocks from downtown.

The free lectures on each home will include information about the life of its original owner and their contribution to the area.

The planned schedule of lectures – the fourth Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. – will be:

- Jan. 23: J.C. White House

- Feb. 27: F.A. Blackwell House

- March 26: William Dollar House

- April 23: J.J. O’Brien House

- May 28: Russell Blackwell House