One of the earliest photos of Pinedale, looking north on Franklin Avenue in 1904, shows the first schoolhouse. It is the log cabin at right. Sublette County Historical Society photo

Pinedale History

On September 26, 1904, the town of Pinedale was founded when the first plat was drawn from property donated by two local ranchers, Mr. Charles Petersen and Mr. Robert Graham. At the same time Mr. Petersen donated four of the new town lots, on the northeast corner of Franklin Avenue and Mill Street, for a school. Construction began immediately. This first schoolhouse would serve the community until 1912 when it was abandoned in order to construct a bigger school for the growing community. The original schoolhouse was moved by Mr. L. H. Hennick to lots on the corner of Magnolia Street and Maybel (today’s Maybell) Avenue, in the first addition to the town, and used as a residence. This first schoolhouse is now the dining room and kitchen in the Chambers House Bed and Breakfast.

C.C. Feltner and his wife Angeline Hennick Feltner assembled their children for a family portrait in their home in 1941. Hover your cursor over each to identify them all.

The Hennick and Feltner Families

Mr. Hennick added two rooms to the house and rented it until the ownership transferred to his daughter, Angeline, and son-in-law, Mr. C. C. Feltner. Mr. Feltner added a garage to the north of the house, and an extension south of the original schoolhouse, creating most of the house as it stands today. The south extension was built in 1933, the depths of the Great Depression. Mr. Feltner took advantage of local building materials, creating much of the home’s charm. From the local forest he pulled the logs which still encase the entire home, and river rocks from Pine Creek were used in the fireplaces. The local blacksmith’s hand-made window handles are located throughout the house and in some of the light fixtures. The interior lime plaster finish was hung by hand. Mr. Feltner was the architect and the engineer for his home. The last two Feltner children were born in this house.

Lodging in Early Pinedale and a Special Guest at Chambers House

Around the corner from the Feltner home, on Franklin Avenue, was the Trails Hotel. When this establishment was full, drop-in guests were often sent to the Feltner home to spend the night in one of the four bedrooms upstairs. In the 1930s, one of these unexpected guests, who slept in what is now the “Red Room,” was Mr. William Henry Jackson, the famous early photographer of the American West.

Today the Trails Hotel building is one of the oldest original structures in Pinedale. The photo dates from the 1930s. Sublette County Historical Society photo

This photograph of Pine Street, looking east, was printed on a postcard sent by a tourist, whose note remarks on the "cute" accommodations he or she found in Pinedale on August 1, 1947. Sublette County Historical Society photo

World War II and Our Victory Garden

During the Second World War the Feltner home had a large Victory Garden in the yard west of the house. Such gardens were considered patriotic. During the war years, fresh food from commercial farms was sent overseas to our troops and to citizens in starving war-torn countries. Americans who provided gardens for their own consumption were making commercial food available for shipping overseas.

The Post-War Years

After the Second World War the Feltner family moved to a ranch on Pole Creek, selling the home to Mr. Paul Ziegler, an attorney. Mr. Ziegler’s law office occupied the front of the home. He sold the house in 1952 to Bill and Magdeleine “Toots” Bloom. Bill’s parents owned the Bloom Hotel, competing against Toots’ folks, who ran the Pinedale Inn. The hotel business was good for matchmaking in the 1940s. Bill’s brother and Toot’s sister also married each other.

The 1950s to Today

In 1957 Andy Harrower purchased the house and in the 1960s added a room above the kitchen (the original schoolhouse). The home remained in the Harrower family until the 1980s when Miss Helen Chambers purchased it. Miss Chambers completely renovated the home, adding bathrooms but maintaining most of the original structure. After her death in 1994, Miss Chambers’ niece, Ms. Ann Chambers Noble, transformed the home into The Chambers House Bed and Breakfast. In 2003, Ann added an apartment to the second floor of the home on its north end. The building continues as a bed and breakfast today.

Cutter races were popular winter entertainment for decades in Pinedale. Here, Norm Perkins drives the Miller Ranch team in the
1950s. Note Chambers House in the background. Paul Allen photo courtesy of Tara Miller