Penrith Rises From Its Ashes — and Newport Is to Be a Good City
Boosters report a rebuilt sawmill, new storefronts and 22 orchard tracts sold as the little Pend Oreille town rebuilds after a winter fire.
U. S. Reidt, the irrepressible Penrith booster, and superintendent of the milling plant of the King Sash, Door & Lumber Co. at that place, was in town Wednesday, and took the opportunity of telling how his burg is progressing.
During the past winter the sawmill plant that burned down has been replaced by a new and up-to-date plant that is working very satisfactorily and furnishes a good-sized payroll. Several new buildings have been erected, including a two-story building by N. O. Hoyer, which will soon be opened to the public. Frank Stewart has built a neat bungalow home and several cottages are in course of construction. J. E. White, the blacksmith, is putting up a two-story building, the upper story to be used as an assembly hall.
In the way of clearing lands for orchard purposes considerable work is under way. During the past year 22 five and ten-acre tracts have been sold in that vicinity, and a number of the purchasers have work under way of clearing and setting to apple trees. Mr. Reidt thinks that Penrith is going to make a good town, while Newport is to be a good city.
“Mr. Reidt thinks that Penrith is going to make a good town, while Newport is to be a good city.”
Penrith's mill fire and quick rebuild is the classic small-town boom-and-bust rhythm of the Pend Oreille country: a payroll vanishes, then returns, and the town sells itself on apple orchards. The booster's parting line — Penrith a good town, Newport a good city — captures the friendly rivalry that still shapes rural Washington identity.
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