West Second Street history

I read the article about the proposed brewery (Pilot Nov. 21) with a great deal of nostalgia.

My parents, Ross and Norma Swarens, bought the property where the brewery is to be located in 1950. It was pretty run-down but they said it “had possibilities.” Dad dug a hole in front of the house for a basement, poured a floor, lined the walls with concrete blocks purchased from Vic Tachney and hired somebody with a team of horses to roll the house on to the basement. The wood furnace he installed there kept us warm and comfortable for many years.

My grandparents, Clyde and Jenny Iseminger, lived in the little house to the east. By these means, working class folks in Whitefish in the 1950s could have a comfortable home, raise a family and take care of loved ones in relative security. My dad kept horses in the north part of the property where the little stable still stands. He was a regular sight driving horse and buggy on the streets in summer and sleigh in winter.

We sold the property in the mid-1980s to a person my dad had befriended. He immediately let it fall into deplorable condition and it is my regret that we honored dad’s wish to sell to him.

If the neighborhood is in a “state of flux” it may be due to the condition of this property. Other homes in the area still offer middle class housing without breaking the bank. Is not maintaining this kind of housing a better alternative than a commercial strip zone?

— Bud Swarens, Bellingham, Wash.