Businessman Peter Sonna Dedicates an Opera House for Boise City [otd 01/03]

On January 3, 1889, the Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise City, Idaho, headlined, “Dedication of the New Opera House under the auspices of the Boise City Board of Trade … ” The article went on, “The dedication … will take place in the above opera house, in Sonna’s new block … ”

Sonna Building. Boise Architectural Project.

The location reference was to a large construction project financed and planned by businessman Peter Sonna.

Born in New York City in November 1835, Sonna followed the gold rush to California when he was a teenager. He remained a miner through 1862, prospecting successively in California, northern Idaho, and the Boise Basin. In 1863, he moved to Boise City and opened a hardware and general merchandise store.

By 1888, Sonna was a prominent leader in the Boise business community. That year, he began construction of a large project anchored at the corner of 9th and Main. The Peter Sonna Hardware Company occupied the ground floor. The second floor became the opera house – the first in Boise City – dedicated on January 3rd.

James A. Pinney, owner of a bookstore and a theater enthusiast [blog, Sept 29], served as first manager of the new opera house. The night after the dedication, the theater offered its first shows: “The brilliant social drama ‘Noemie’ …" and "the laughable farce ‘Turn Him Out’.” During the following summer, Sonna and Pinney increased the seating capacity to about 800 viewers and corrected some “slight acoustic defects.”

Mayor Sonna. City of Boise.

Three years after the dedication, Pinney built his own pavilion, the Columbia Theater. The Columbia and Sonna’s venue would be the main entertainment competition in Boise for over a decade. Over the five or six years following the dedication,  Sonna continued to add onto his structure, expanding the store floor space. He may have also added offices to the structure.

In 1893, Sonna was elected to a term as Boise City Mayor. At the time he took office, the financial “Panic of '93” had already crippled businesses across the country, including some in Boise. Still, despite a shoestring budget, the new mayor pushed through a number of civic improvements. That included a small professionalized police force, although he did have to reach into his own pocket to provide uniforms for the officers.

Around the time Sonna’s term ended, contractors completed an extension to the hardware store. In 1901, further alterations raised the roof of the opera house about eight feet, and expanded the seating to a thousand. The following year, the Statesman reported that, “A new system of lighting, including several elaborate electric chandeliers, is being installed.”

In 1903, new managers leased the facility and tried to establish its name as the “Raymond Opera House.” Although their official news releases used that name, many people still referred to it under the Sonna designation. In 1904, the Raymond announced (Statesman, January 31, 1904) that “by special request, a matinee and night performance of the scenic production, ‘A Nut-Meg Match,’ will be given.”

Then, according to Peter Sonna’s obituary, in the latter part of 1905, “the theatre was taken out of the corner building, and a third story added to conform to the rest of the block.”

Sonna died in July 1907. Within a few years, new owners converted the large store expanse into several smaller shops and restaurants. The rest of the structure became office space.

In 1976, developers had the façade remodeled to present a uniform appearance to the street. Today, the building is considered prime downtown real estate.
                                                                                 

References: “Boise’s Progress,” Idaho Statesman, Boise (January 3, 1889).

Arthur Hart, “At Turn of century, Boise Builds a Modern Police Department,” Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho December 11, 2016.

Multiple relevant articles: Idaho Statesman (Dec 5, 1901 - July 10, 1907).

“Peter Sonna – November 22, 1835-July 9, 1907,” Reference Series No. 598, Idaho State Historical Society (1981).

Samantha Winkle, “Sonna Building,” Boise Architecture Project, online (2009).

Boise Developers and Patrons Thomas J. Davis and Wife Julia [otd 01/02]

T. J. Davis. J. H. Hawley.

On January 2, 1837,* Boise pioneer Thomas Jefferson Davis was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father died when Thomas was a boy, so he and a brother were indentured to an Illinois farmer. Before June 1860 (they were not listed with the household for the 1860 census), the farmer rewarded their years of labor by outfitting them for a trip to the West. They ended up heading for the newly-discovered Idaho gold fields.

Unscrupulous guides led their wagon train into impossible country in the Lemhi area. The scammers hoped the party would abandon their vehicles and supplies, or sell them for a pittance. Instead, the angry gold-seekers loaded what they could onto the draft animals and burned everything else. After considerable hardship, they found their way to Elk City.

However, by the time they arrived, the “bloom” had gone off the North Idaho rush. Thus, after a brief period in Washington and Oregon, Davis headed for Idaho City. He prospected “with fair results,” but decided that supplying the miners offered more certain returns. In late 1862, he moved to a homestead along the Boise River. The following spring, he dug a system of irrigation ditches and planted onions, cabbages and potatoes.

A few months later, Major Pinkney Lugenbee selected a site for Fort Boise [blog July 4]. Davis then became one of the founders of Boise City, with part of his homestead being inside the new townsite. (Over the years, the city grew to encompass his entire property.)

Davis prospered by selling vegetables and fruit locally and in the mining districts. The apple orchard he planted in 1864 returned substantial profits for some 35 years before the groves gave way to urban growth.

He also branched out into stock raising. His cowboys herded horses across ranges from near the Snake River all the way into Nevada. They kept his fine herd of Hereford cattle on pastures southeast of Boise City. Ahead of his time, Davis also owned several hundred acres of winter forage land in the Boise Valley and the hills further north. He not only fed his own herds, he supplied the Army at Fort Boise.

A strong Boise City booster, Thomas owned considerable real estate, was partner in a large mercantile store, held stock in at least two banks, and had many other investments in and around the city. A leader in the state Republican Party, Davis chose not to run for public office himself.

Julia Davis. J. H. Hawley.

Still, Davis was more than just a man of affairs. He loved music, played the violin, and served in the Boise City band in the early days. In April 1871, he married Julia McCrumb, a native of Ontario, Canada and niece of an Army surgeon stationed at Fort Boise. She became renowned as a gracious hostess and warm “greeter” to Boise newcomers. In her name, Tom Davis bequeathed a grand legacy to the city of Boise.

After she died, in September 1907, Davis gave a tract of land along the Boise River to the city. He stipulated that the bequest should be maintained as a public area under the name Julia Davis Park. He survived his wife by less than nine months. Today Julia Davis Park – now more than doubled in size – is the crown jewel of Boise’s extensive system of public spaces.

* The Davis biographies list 1838 as his birth year, but he gave several different ages to successive census takers. He was most likely born in 1836 or 1837.
                                                                                 

References: [French], [Hawley], [Illust-State]

Julia Davis Park, CityofBoise.org

Snake Brigade Leader Peter Ogden Laments Fur Trade Deaths [otd 01/01]

Peter Skene Ogden.
Oregon Historical Society.

On New Year's Day, 1829, Peter Skene Ogden wrote in his journal, “One of the trappers left in charge of the sick man arrived with his horse fatigued and informed me that our sick man, Joseph Paul, died 8 days after we left, suffering most severely.”

Ogden was then leader of the Snake Brigade, a band of trappers and support personnel working for the British-Canadian Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Born in Quebec in 1790, Ogden had around twenty years experience in the fur trade. His career had blossomed, starting in 1809 with his apprenticeship as a clerk for the North West Company (NWC). The job brought out the best … and the worst … in the young man. His good head for the trade, natural aptitude for Native languages, and boundless energy fueled a rapid rise in the company.

However, the youthful Ogden also possessed a considerable temper, with a penchant for violence. The frontier environment allowed those tendencies free rein. At that time, the NWC was engaged in a bitter trade war with the older HBC. Ogden “made an example of” – executed – an Indian who had traded with their rival.

With an indictment for murder in the works, in 1818 the company transferred Ogden west to the Columbia Department. There, he at various times worked at company posts in Astoria, near today’s Spokane, and in British Columbia.

In 1821, the British government forced a merger of the two companies, after which most records refer to the more familiar HBC. Ogden did some fast talking to retain a position with the merged firm. Fortunately for him, the company decided they couldn’t afford to lose a man with his valuable experience and skills. Three years later, he assumed command of the Snake Brigade. Over the next five years, the Brigade explored and trapped watersheds in (future) Idaho, every adjoining state, and even Northern California.

The 1828-1829 expedition left Fort Vancouver in late September, cut across the southwest corner of Idaho into Nevada, and then moved generally east into Utah. A week before New Years, Ogden had written, “Had a distant view of Great Salt Lake. Heavy fogs around it.” Their New Years camp was most likely south of today’s Malad City, Idaho.

Idaho mountain vista from north-central Utah.

After mulling over Joseph Paul’s death, Ogden observed that, “there remains now only one man” out of all those who had been part of the Brigade back in 1819. He went on, “All have been killed – with the exception of 2 who died a natural death – and are scattered over the Snake Country. It is incredible the number that have fallen in this country.”

After resting for several days, Ogden’s party worked their way north onto the Portneuf River watershed and then southeast toward Bear Lake. Ogden’s journal does not say where they camped for the winter, but they were back in sight of the Great Salt Lake by the end of March. They finished the season in northern Nevada and returned to Fort Vancouver in July.

Ogden considered their hunt moderately successful: He said, “We have no cause to complain of our returns.” However, HBC management knew all too well how the dangerous and grueling work could wear a man down. The following summer, they gave Ogden another posting and assigned John Work to lead the Brigade [blog, Oct 23].
                                                                                 

References: [B&W]

Glyndwr Williams, “Peter Skene Ogden,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography,  John English (ed.), (online), University of Toronto (© 2000).

Peter Skene Ogden, T. C. Elliott (ed.), “Peter Skene Ogden’s Journal - Snake Expeditions,”  Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (1910).