Dr. Francis Pomeroy and George G. Mobley erected this two-story building in 1890 after fire destroyed the earlier buildings.
Dr. Francis A. Pomeroy was not only a long-serving physician and surgeon in the community as well as for the Northern Pacific & SP&S railroad section, he was also a successful real estate investor and developer. His name has been mentioned before in this downtown series and there were a number of buildings which are no longer standing associated with the good doctor. Dr. Pomeroy also served as a city councilman as well as Cheney’s third and thirteenth mayor.
This building, financed by the doctor, is the one that history recalls as The Pomeroy Building. Erected in 1890 with partner and first tenant, George Gale Mobley general merchandise vendor. The timing was also fortuitous for when the Cheney Normal School was destroyed by fire in April 1891, the newly completed building had space on the second floor to accommodate some classes.
The general framework of the building we see today is reminiscent of the original with two commercial spaces flanking a central entrance to the stairway to the second floor. However, the original triangular parapet that crowned the building was removed about 1990 and plastered over, a central awning structure on the front was also removed, and both ground floor commercial façades have been extensively remodeled.
The Cheney Loyal Order of Moose lodge purchased the building from Dr. Pomeroy November 1929. They redeveloped the second-floor rooms for fraternal functions of the both the men’s lodge and Women of Mooseheart Legion. They continued to lease the two ground floor commercial spaces. The building became known as Moose Hall to a new generation of townspeople. In 1940, William Lee and Roy Stuhr who operated businesses on the ground floor, purchased the building from the Moose lodge, who continued to use the second floor for meetings.
We will cover the history of the uses of the two ground floor spaces and the second floor in the following stories.
Joan Mamanakis
2 Responses
My recollection is that the Moose Hall building housed the Safeway store during the 1950’s and early 1960’s