Dover turns 100

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Sandpoint may be the seat of Bonner County, and therefore capture the lion’s share of attention, but its little sister city Dover is every bit as compelling in its history and far more vibrant than its small population might suggest.

According to the 2022 U.S. Census, Dover ranked as the sixth fastest-growing community in the state, growing 9.2% with 84 new residents and raising the population to a total of 1,000. That’s a far cry from its origins, however, which the city is celebrating Saturday, July 22-Sunday, July 23 in honor of Dover’s 100th anniversary.

The Dover Mill in 1924.

All are welcome to the free, family friendly festivities, which kick off July 22 with a boat parade from 10 a.m. to noon from Laclede to Dover. Following that, from noon to 1 p.m., will be a walk from the Dover City Hall to the historic Dover church, then from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. a community barbeque on Washington Street (in front of the church), including live music. 

Magician Star Alexander will also be on hand to provide entertainment from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., with a silent auction at 4 p.m. Organizers said the auction will include items such as a Schweitzer gift basket, handmade quilts, a restored bicycle, goods from the Riley Creek Blueberry Farm in Laclede, dinner gift certificates, flower arrangements and more.

The Klondyke Cafe and Tavern in Laclede is catering the event, which concludes with Sunday service at the Dover church at 9 a.m. on July 23, followed by a continental breakfast.

“They’ve been very good to us,” said Joe Gibbs, of the Dover Historical Society, referring to the Klondyke.

Gibbs highlighted the significance of Dover’s centennial, noting the rapid changes that have occurred in the town in recent decades, notably since the development of the Dover Bay community began in 2005, which has boosted the population both year-round and seasonally, as well as raised the profile of the town in state and national media.

“Dover has changed a lot, mainly because of Dover Bay taking over all the old mill part. That’s a very high-end neighborhood and ‘Old Dover’ is what it is. We call it ‘Historic Dover,’” he said. 

“Our hope through this is that we can kind of mend some fences. I think there’s some hard feelings among some of the older folks in Dover feeling that things didn’t work out the way they envisioned they would and I think there’s some hard feelings on the other end, too,” Gibbs added. “We’re trying to unite Dover with this, and I’m encouraged that we have a lot of folks from Dover Bay that have volunteered to help out, directing traffic and working the kitchen.”

Despite its small size, Dover’s history has never been settled.

As Gibbs mentioned, Dover started out as a mill community, but it wasn’t called “Dover” at first — rather, it was named Welty in 1906, after the president of the Dover Lumber Company. In 1909, timber operator A.C. White purchased the Laclede Lumber Company and the next year Welty became “Dover.”

Those seemingly unrelated occurrences came together in a big way starting in 1922, when White’s lumber mill burned in August that year, prompting him to purchase the Dover mill, which had been idle.

One of the homes floated up the river from Laclede to Dover in 1922-’23. Courtesy photo.

Then began one of the most unique occurrences in Bonner County history, when White decided to relocate 12 miles up the Pend Oreille River but not by road or rail, but barge.

A total of 55 buildings were loaded onto the watercraft and floated from Laclede to Dover. Of the 50 original homes barged from Laclede, about 30 remain, though having undergone significant upgrades.

As the Pend d’Oreille Review stated in its Sept. 15, 1922 edition, “One of the interesting features connected with the occupation and rehabilitation of the Dover plant by the A.C. White Lumber Company will be the removal of much of the village of Laclede to the village of Dover. The White company owns some 50 houses at Laclede, some of them new cottages erected this and last season. The best of these residences, it is planned, will be brought to Dover up the river by barge.”

According to Dover centennial organizers, “Anything that could be salvaged was loaded on 150-ton barges and tugboats maneuvered the mill upriver. Employee housing would be an issue, so about 50 homes, with furnishings still inside, were similarly floated to their new home sites. This all began in the fall of 1922 until the river froze; the move was completed in the spring of 1923 and — with the new mill already being built — Dover was reborn.” 

Among the buildings transported by water was the Dover church, which had previously served as White’s summer cottage. In order to move the building, it had to be divided into three pieces and reassembled, in which form it remains today.

It’s around the church that Dover marks its birthday, the Baptist congregation being organized in February 1923 after its waterborne journey and reassembly.

The Pend d’Oreille Review in October 1924 wrote, “The Baptist church there, under the leadership of Rev. A.F. White, was only organized last February, but with the assistance of the A.C. White Lumber Company and public spirited citizens, a fine bungalow church building was acquired, which is the pride of Dover.”

The town had its ebbs and flows, however, with a major setback in 1928 when the Dover mill burned down and its main benefactor — A.C. White — died. It wasn’t until 1931 when a buyer came in the form of Beecher Hitchcock and Associates, which purchased everything from the sawmill and factory to the whole townsite of Dover. In addition, the Review reported, the company bought “thousands of acres of cut-over land and several million feet of timber, chiefly in Boundary County. The valuation of the property was estimated at well over half a million dollars.”

Dover became the 199th city in Idaho on July 16, 1988, with the appointment by Bonner County commissioners of citizens Peggy Burge, Loretta Boyle, Maggie Becker and Craig Hofmeister to the City Council and Bill O’Donnell, Jr. as mayor.

Disaster struck again in 1992 with another catastrophic fire at the Dover mill, forever shuttering lumber operations at the site. However, that opened the way for riverfront development, which culminated with the Dover Bay development in 2005, which today features hundreds of high-end homes, a marina, restaurant and other amenities including a new City Hall and public park.

The development spurred opposition before, during and after its planning and building phases, and today remains a distinct entity from “Historic Dover.” The divisions between the development and more established residents even featured as the case study for the 2021 book Pushed Out: Contested Development and Rural Gentrification in the U.S. West by University of Idaho sociologist Ryanne Pilgeram, who spent her teenage years in Dover and graduated as valedictorian of Sandpoint High School in 1999.

Yet, despite a long and tumultuous past, event planners stated, “The celebration has been created and organized by a small group of proud Dover volunteers, many of whom descend from those whose homes and livelihoods were barged upriver. They will be available throughout the day to tell their families’ stories and share the grit and perseverance that is the heart of  Dover.”

The city of Dover requires all dogs to be leashed and the organizing committee requests that firearms be left at home for the duration of the celebration. Parking within Dover is limited, and shuttles will be available from the Nutlicious parking lot, which is off Highway 2, just east of the Dover entrance.