Historic Eagles Building in Pocatello Idaho

Rehabilitated by PNHS, the historic Eagles Building on the corner of Clark and Arthur now has five mixed-income apartments on the upper level with offices below that are occupied by PNHS and two other businesses.

The Eagles building was built in 1915 with six storefronts at street level and space upstairs divided into a large ballroom and five small rooms.  This ballroom was the meeting place for the Fraternal Order of Eagles and later for the Moose Lodge; it also saw many Pocatello High School dances and proms.  Lynn Brothers' Hospital had its small operating room upstairs until the early 1940s.  Other tenants included Mama Inez, Little Boy Blue Shoe Repair, and the Salt Lake Tribune.

Times got harder as merchants abandoned the downtown area.  In 1987, School District No. 25 purchased the building, which stands facing Pocatello High School. Slowly they let the leases run out, then sought to demolish it to make room for a parking lot.  The Pocatello Historic Preservation Commission denied the permit, also sparing next-door neighbors that once were Fire Station One and Bannock Garage.  In 1997, PNHS purchased the Eagles building and the old fire station.

Targeted demolition by a nine-person AmeriCorps team kicked off the first phase of construction on the Eagles building.  This phase restored the second floor, converting it into a multi-family housing unit with five one-bedroom apartments.  The ballroom floor was sanded and refinished, providing beautiful hardwood floors for the apartments.  Members of the Pocatello Historic Preservation Commission renovated the historic sash windows and built replacement sashes using volunteers and correctional facility laborers.  This first phase was completed in August 1998 and there has been steady demand for the mixed-income dwellings since then.

The second phase of construction restored and converted the main level into three office spaces, a community conference room, and a corner retail space. This was completed in June 1999. At last, there were new additions to the long list of distinguished tenants: Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Services, Old Town Pocatello and the Portneuf Greenway Foundation.

PNHS worked with 23 different sources to fund the revitalization project, which cost over $1 million.  Neighborhood Reinvestment Executive Director George Knight commented on the ensemble of donors gathered to underwrite the project.  "To say this is a community effort is an understatement.  It's a truly remarkable assembly of resources." (Idaho State Journal, 6/8/99)

One part of this effort was forming a partnership with Zions Bank to utilize historic preservation tax credits.  Other major partners included Myers/Anderson Architects and DeWall Construction.  Zions committed $75,200 to the project and in return received approximately $94,000 in tax credits.  This partnership allowed PNHS to take possession of the building and move into our new office space.  From here, we continue our work to revitalize Pocatello neighborhoods.

But what of the Eagles' next-door neighbor, the old fire station?  Keep your eyes open, because we've heard that the owners are going to restore it--bell tower and all.