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Robert Davis Recording 3 of 3
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RUSS: We have come to the end of one side of our tape and we're going to back off just a little bit and I'll talk to Bob when he gets back. Now, Bob, to repeat the questions I gave a minute ago, can you recall the early management of that, Charlie Brogdon, can you recall any of the managers that were in there?
ROBERT: Jess Ernst, the one I remember, and Charlie Brogdon, [00:00:30] and then Burt Shriners.
RUSS: And Charlie Brogdon was there for many, many years, wasn't he?
ROBERT: Oh yeah, from the '20s into the '50s, I'm pretty sure. Jess Ernst, I suppose, was the manager from the time the hotel reopened in 1916 until sometime in the '20s.
RUSS: Would you back off just a minute, Bob, and tell us about the closing and the opening of the hotel? I'm not aware of that.
ROBERT: [00:01:00] Well, I understood that the hotel was not making money, in fact, was losing money, so it was closed in 1912. And then after my grandfather's estate was divided, my mother and grandmother received the hotel as their portion, or part of their portion, and it was reopened in 1916.
RUSS: So it was closed for four years. It was open during about the time we went into World War I.
ROBERT: A little before.
RUSS: [00:01:30] A little before we went into World War I. Okay, now getting back up to Norbert Shriner, he was probably the last manager of the hotel.
ROBERT: Right.
RUSS: Did Norbert do extensive renovation while he was in there?
ROBERT: Well, the maintenance, I don't think there was any extensive renovation. Just that there wasn't too much to do.
RUSS: And you are aware, as I am, that most of the service clubs met [00:02:00] there for luncheon up until fairly recent years, or fairly near the time it was closed.
ROBERT: It closed to – see, a year I came back to Nampa, that was '56, so I don't remember much about the last years.
RUSS: And the hotel was closed for then how many years before it was demolished?
ROBERT: Well, it was closed after the stampede in '56, and then razed [00:02:30] in the spring and summer of '63.
RUSS: So it was closed for seven years before it was razed. Is there anything else that you can think about the hotel or the relationship with the hotel?
ROBERT: Well, if you are interested in photos, I mentioned before, I gave quite a number that my mother had to the museum here in Nampa, the parlor and the various rooms in the basement. [00:03:00] That's just about it on the hotel.
RUSS: Well, anything else now, Bob, that you would, can think of that we haven't covered this pretty rapidly, covered a lot of ground? Anything else you think of that you'd like to put in to let somebody follow up a little on?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: Okay. I'm aware that you have many valuable [00:03:30] souvenirs of early Nampa, things that belonged to your mother and photographs, because I've seen them. Would you have any objection to people examining those?
ROBERT: No. Most of those that are really, from her scrapbook, that would be fine. Most of the photos that I had, I gave to the museum.
RUSS: Okay. Now, one later event that [00:04:00] involved you was the property that you now live on. This was the original home of your mother and father, wasn't it?
ROBERT: Yeah. It was a 15-acre site out in the country, because the edge of Nampa was the old high school, which was way later, West Junior High, and now is the site of the City Hall.
RUSS: That's right. And you were out well past that.
ROBERT: Yeah. Oh, a quarter of a mile. And it was, the house was [00:04:30] built in 1919, if I can remember, and then added to in 1920.
RUSS: And this is where you make your home.
ROBERT: Right.
RUSS: And you have, up until her death, you made your home with Mrs. Vanstein, Mrs. George Vanstein, May Vanstein, who was an old-time settler in Nampa. Her daughter was your wife. And then in somewhat recent [00:05:00] years, you subdivided some of this property, didn't you?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: Or didn't subdivide it, you...
ROBERT: The family sold all except where the house is right after the Second World War.
RUSS: That's right.
ROBERT: It became the Davis Gardens.
RUSS: Preston Capel, that's right, Preston Capel. He bought some and subdivided, putting commercial places on the avenue, it was the US 30 then, in those days was the highway, wasn't it?
ROBERT: And the rest of it was residential.
RUSS: [00:05:30] Anything else you might think of?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: All right, Bob. I thank you very much.
ROBERT: Want a drink?
END OF RECORDING
ROBERT: Jess Ernst, the one I remember, and Charlie Brogdon, [00:00:30] and then Burt Shriners.
RUSS: And Charlie Brogdon was there for many, many years, wasn't he?
ROBERT: Oh yeah, from the '20s into the '50s, I'm pretty sure. Jess Ernst, I suppose, was the manager from the time the hotel reopened in 1916 until sometime in the '20s.
RUSS: Would you back off just a minute, Bob, and tell us about the closing and the opening of the hotel? I'm not aware of that.
ROBERT: [00:01:00] Well, I understood that the hotel was not making money, in fact, was losing money, so it was closed in 1912. And then after my grandfather's estate was divided, my mother and grandmother received the hotel as their portion, or part of their portion, and it was reopened in 1916.
RUSS: So it was closed for four years. It was open during about the time we went into World War I.
ROBERT: A little before.
RUSS: [00:01:30] A little before we went into World War I. Okay, now getting back up to Norbert Shriner, he was probably the last manager of the hotel.
ROBERT: Right.
RUSS: Did Norbert do extensive renovation while he was in there?
ROBERT: Well, the maintenance, I don't think there was any extensive renovation. Just that there wasn't too much to do.
RUSS: And you are aware, as I am, that most of the service clubs met [00:02:00] there for luncheon up until fairly recent years, or fairly near the time it was closed.
ROBERT: It closed to – see, a year I came back to Nampa, that was '56, so I don't remember much about the last years.
RUSS: And the hotel was closed for then how many years before it was demolished?
ROBERT: Well, it was closed after the stampede in '56, and then razed [00:02:30] in the spring and summer of '63.
RUSS: So it was closed for seven years before it was razed. Is there anything else that you can think about the hotel or the relationship with the hotel?
ROBERT: Well, if you are interested in photos, I mentioned before, I gave quite a number that my mother had to the museum here in Nampa, the parlor and the various rooms in the basement. [00:03:00] That's just about it on the hotel.
RUSS: Well, anything else now, Bob, that you would, can think of that we haven't covered this pretty rapidly, covered a lot of ground? Anything else you think of that you'd like to put in to let somebody follow up a little on?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: Okay. I'm aware that you have many valuable [00:03:30] souvenirs of early Nampa, things that belonged to your mother and photographs, because I've seen them. Would you have any objection to people examining those?
ROBERT: No. Most of those that are really, from her scrapbook, that would be fine. Most of the photos that I had, I gave to the museum.
RUSS: Okay. Now, one later event that [00:04:00] involved you was the property that you now live on. This was the original home of your mother and father, wasn't it?
ROBERT: Yeah. It was a 15-acre site out in the country, because the edge of Nampa was the old high school, which was way later, West Junior High, and now is the site of the City Hall.
RUSS: That's right. And you were out well past that.
ROBERT: Yeah. Oh, a quarter of a mile. And it was, the house was [00:04:30] built in 1919, if I can remember, and then added to in 1920.
RUSS: And this is where you make your home.
ROBERT: Right.
RUSS: And you have, up until her death, you made your home with Mrs. Vanstein, Mrs. George Vanstein, May Vanstein, who was an old-time settler in Nampa. Her daughter was your wife. And then in somewhat recent [00:05:00] years, you subdivided some of this property, didn't you?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: Or didn't subdivide it, you...
ROBERT: The family sold all except where the house is right after the Second World War.
RUSS: That's right.
ROBERT: It became the Davis Gardens.
RUSS: Preston Capel, that's right, Preston Capel. He bought some and subdivided, putting commercial places on the avenue, it was the US 30 then, in those days was the highway, wasn't it?
ROBERT: And the rest of it was residential.
RUSS: [00:05:30] Anything else you might think of?
ROBERT: No.
RUSS: All right, Bob. I thank you very much.
ROBERT: Want a drink?
END OF RECORDING