Wallace
Heritage District · Wallace, Idaho
A silver-mining town of seven hundred and ninety-one people in a narrow valley in the Idaho panhandle, where the entire downtown was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. That listing was not ceremonial: it legally blocked the demolition planned to run Interstate 90 through the middle of the town, and the freeway was built on an elevated viaduct over it instead. Until September 1991 the traffic light here was the last one on any coast-to-coast interstate in the United States, and in 2004 the mayor declared a sewer cover downtown to be the centre of the universe.
610 Bank Street, Wallace, Idaho, 83873, United States
The town and its streets are open at all times and FREE to walk. ⚠ EVERYTHING INSIDE A BUILDING IS SEASONAL AND SHORT-HOURED: the railroad and mining museums, the underground mine tour and several shops and restaurants run roughly May or June to September, reduce hard in the shoulder months and close on Sundays and Mondays out of season. CHECK BEFORE TRAVELLING OUT OF SEASON - this is a town of 791 people and a beautiful empty street is a real possible outcome. Street parking is free and does not fill. The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes runs through the valley year round.