History: Columbia Falls arch went up in '63, came down in '75
Art Gilroy holds the American flag while Sue Gulick holds the Canadian flag as they pass under the Columbia Falls arch in August, 1965 during the Progress Days parade. In the background is Vernell Frerich with the Rocky Mountain Riders Saddle Club banner. (Mel Ruder photo)
The final piece of the arch puzzle has been solved. After a few hours of digging into the Hungry Horse News archives, we found the wooden arch over Nucleus Avenue went up on Aug. 25, 1963.
The arch didn’t draw much attention — it was just a photo and caption on page 9 of a 10-page newspaper that week.
The arch was financed by banker Jack King and constructed by Leo Renfrow and Ervin Kiser, with help on the lettering from Len Erickson of Hungry Horse.
Plum Creek Timber Co. donated the poles and Pacific Power and Light helped as well. Ray Barnhart, Fred Fowler and Leo Schulte of B&F Excavating dug the holes and Renfrow and Bill Schmidt hung the sign.
Jim Emerson and Don Allred treated the poles.
“New large sign has certainly been a topic for conversation,” the caption noted.
Dave Renfrow, Leo’s son, recalled that Barnhart used a loader to bring the sign up to Nucleus from Renfrow’s cabinet shop, which was just down the road on Highway 40 (it is still a cabinet shop today).
Dave Renfrow, who was in junior high at the time, made the engraved signs that would eventually be put on the poles, directing traffic to various locales up the North Fork.
The sign stood until September of 1975, when a strong windstorm broke the sign in two. It was never rebuilt.