Bellgrove Community Grange
Rural Kootenai County
- Grants: 1996, 2021 (reroofing and addressing water damage), 2022 (foundation restoration)
Location: 9675 Hamaker Road, CDA ID 83814
What used to be known as the Bellgrove School is located on the benchlands adjacent to Bellgrove Creek about two miles northwest of Rockford Bay on the west side of Coeur d’Alene Lake. The land was within the bounds of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation until the early 1890s when it was relinquished to the U.S. government by treaty. By 1910 the area was well populated by lumber camps and homestead claimants. The effects of heavy logging and the 1910 fire preceding World War I depopulated the community. The school, built in 1918, was in use until 1958 when it was among those consolidated into the Worley School District. A school on the same site and two log schoolhouses in the adjacent Fighting Creek area preceded it.
The old schoolhouse has hosted meetings since the inception of the Bellgrove Grange in 1935. The original meetings were hosted among the children’s desks and lit by oil lamps provided by the school board. The building is still an important meeting place for the local community and is used for meetings, dinners, and many other social activities. “
For more information please contact Bellgrove Community Grange at bellgrove369@gmail.com.
