History - Looking Back for March 27, 2024
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
March 28, 1974
Barley Rice General Store opened its doors in Whitefish and offered natural foods, arts and crafts for sale. Paul and Joanna Gregg offered nuts, grains, wheats, natural vitamins and dried fruits in the health foods section of the store, pottery by Charles Davis, macramé work, paintings and jewelry. “We will be glad to talk to any craftsmen who have their work for sale,” they said. They were interested in leather work, sewing projects, plants or other art projects. The store was located in the basement of the Village Shop.
40 Years Ago
March 29, 1984
Charlie Phillips, Flathead County Road Director, said Wisconsin Avenue is in the worst shape of all paved county roads. Crews were expected to fill most of the chuckholes soon, depending on the weather. “You can't put blacktop in a wet hole,” Phillips said. “Wisconsin has been patched so many times that some of the patches are worse than the road.” The poor condition of the area’s roads “bugs us as much as it bugs everyone else,” said Ed Johnson, Montana’s Highway Department maintenance director.
30 Years Ago
March 24, 1994
The site of the old Cadillac Hotel in downtown Whitefish was selected as the final location for a new brewery operated by a descendent of pioneer Portland brewer, Henry Weinhard. Minott Wessinger, Weinhard’s great-great-grandson, told the Pilot that an application for a conditional use permit for the site was submitted to the city. If approved, the hotel would be torn down and a new building would be constructed on the site. “Assuming the applicant is approved, we plan to move forward and build during the summer,” he said, adding that he hopes to be brewing beer on-site by October. Architect John Constenius was designing the new building and said the Cadillac Hotel’s current owner planned to tear down the structure anyway.
20 Years Ago
March 25, 2004
After almost 40 years of practicing family medicine, Whitefish’s Dr. Michael “Mick” Ricker retired with many fond memories, most notably the memories of his patients. “What I’ll remember most is people's spirit and their personalities. You learn how tough people really are and how great people really are,” said Ricker. “As a family doctor … there is a continuity of care, contact and concern.” Over the years, Ricker saw a lot of change. What astounded him most was the great leaps in outpatient care. He looked forward to spending time fishing and teaching his eight grandchildren to fish.
10 Years Ago
February 26, 2014
The Whitefish City Council decided it favored above-ground parking at the new City Hall site and it still wanted to create an assessment district to pay for the upkeep of the structure. During a work session, city staff asked council to make a number of decisions regarding the City Hall and parking structure project. The council chose to move forward with early architectural and engineering work for the new buildings while it continues to hammer out the details of paying for maintenance of the parking structure.