Sandpoint, Idaho

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Sandpoint, Idaho
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settlement_type = City
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mapsize = 250px
map_caption = Location in Bonner County, Idaho


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Idaho
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Bonner
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established_title = Incorporation
established_date = 1898
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area_total_km2 = 12.3
area_land_km2 = 10.1
area_water_km2 = 2.2
area_total_sq_mi = 4.7
area_land_sq_mi = 3.9
area_water_sq_mi = 0.8
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population_as_of = 2000
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population_total = 6835
population_density_km2 = 676.0
population_density_sq_mi = 1750.9
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timezone = Pacific (PST)
utc_offset = -8
timezone_DST = PDT
utc_offset_DST = -7
latd = 48
latm = 16
lats = 32
latNS = N
longd = 116
longm = 33
longs = 33
longEW = W
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 639
elevation_ft = 2096
postal_code_type = ZIP codes
postal_code = 83862, 83864, 83888
area_code = 208
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 16-72100
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 0398095
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Sandpoint is a city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States.GR|6 Its population was 6,835 at the 2000 census.

Sandpoint's major industry is tourism and recreation, thanks to its proximity to scenic Lake Pend Oreille and Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort. It is the headquarters of Coldwater Creek, a women's apparel retailer, and the venue for the largest film festival in the Inland Northwest, the Schweitzer Lakedance International Film Festival.

Sandpoint is on the International Selkirk Loop and two National Scenic Byways (Wild Horse Trail and Pend Oreille Scenic Byway).

Economy

Local businesses that flourish in and around Sandpoint include Litehouse (a national salad dressing manufacturer), Coldwater Creek (a national clothing and apparel marketer), Quest Aircraft Company, Encoder Products, and Percussion Aire (medical instrumentation).

Since 2002, Sandpoint has been home to Quest Aircraft [ [http://www.questaircraft.com Questaircraft.com | Quest Aircraft Company ] ] the manufacturer of the Kodiak, a ten-seat, single-engine, turboprop airplane designed and produced to meet the needs of missionary and humanitarian organizations that travel to remote regions of the world.

History

The Salish Tribes, specifically the Kalispel and the Kootenai built encampments on the shore of Lake Pend Oreille every summer, fished, made baskets of cedar, and collected huckleberries before returning to either Montana or Washington in the fall. The encampments ended before 1930. [ [http://www.sandpoint.com/Community/RememberingIndians.asp Sandpoint.com — Remembering The Indians ] ]

In the 1880s the Northern Pacific Railroad brought European and Chinese settlement to the area.

In August 1888, twenty-nine year old author and civil servant Theodore Roosevelt, visited Sandpoint on a caribou-hunting trip in the Selkirk Mountains [ [http://www.sandpoint.com/Community/teddyroosevelt.asp Sandpoint.com — Teddy Roosevelt in Early Sandpoint ] ] Roosevelt documented what a rough-and-tumble environment "Sand Point" was at that time (and for many decades following).

Sandpoint was officially incorporated in 1898.

Timber harvesting and railroads drove the economy for nearly a century after as lumberjacks moved in from the over-harvested Great Lakes region. Several lumber companies operated in the region from as early as 1896 to present. The most notable company was the Humbird Lumber Company that operated from 1900 to around 1944. The lumber companies bought land from the Northern Pacific Railroad and built a major mill at Sandpoint and adjacent Kootenai. Lumber-company-owned railroads extended into many of the local drainages, Grouse Creek, Gold Creek and (Rapid) Lightening Creek. Although the trees were never exhausted in the area, Humbird Lumber suffered and finally succumbed to the low timber prices of the Great Depression.

"Stump ranches" were sold by Humbird to many families who slowly cleared much of the valley land of tree stumps. Farming and ranching became the third business behind lumber and railroads prior to the "discovery" of Lake Pend Oreille as a sports fishery in the 1950s. The economy was given a boost during World War II from Farragut Naval Station, a training center for the US Navy located at the southwestern end of Lake Pend Oreille.

The opening of Schweitzer Mountain Resort in 1963 turned the area into a year-round tourism destination. The beauty of the surrounding Selkirk and Cabinet Mountains and Lake Pend Oreille have kept Sandpoint a tourist favorite for water sports, hunting, hiking, horseback riding, fishing and skiing.

In the 1980s and 1990s nearby Coeur d'Alene and Hayden Lake attracted nationwide publicity when white supremacist Neo-Nazi groups (most notably the Aryan Nations) set up headquarters in the area. Many Sandpoint residents reacted negatively to such groups; some formed the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in opposition. In 2001 the Aryan Nations lost a lawsuit filed against them. [cite news | url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/09/08/morris.dees.profile/ | title=Attorney Morris Dees pioneer in using 'damage litigation' to fight hate groups | publisher=CNN |date= September 8, 2000 | first= | last= | accessdate =2007-08-17] The lawsuit bankrupted the organization and forced them to give up their Hayden Lake property and disband.cite news | url=http://www.splcenter.org/legal/docket/files.jsp?cdrID=30&sortID=0 | title=Keenan v. Aryan Nations | publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |date= 2000 | first= | last= | accessdate =2007-08-17]

In August 2006, Sandpoint and the Panida Theater were host to the first ever International Film Festival in Northern Idaho. The Schweitzer Lakedance International Film Festival, as it is now known, held the second iteration of this film festival September 9th-16th, 2007. With outdoor independent film screenings at the scenic Sandpoint City Beach and the Historic Panida Theater, and multiple workshops and panel discussions, Sandpoint now hosts the largest film festival in the Inland Northwest. This festival, along with The Festival at Sandpoint, and Lost-in-the-50's, among other events, continue to build Sandpoint's reputation of being an arts and culture capital of Northern Idaho and the Inland Northwest.

{| Railway line header

Rail transportation

Amtrak serves Sandpoint, operating its Empire Builder daily in both directions between Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington/Portland, Oregon.

Notable natives and residents

*Mark Fuhrman, best known for his controversial testimony at the O. J. Simpson trial
*Jerry Kramer, former Green Bay Packers right guard
*Joe Mather, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder
*Patrick F. McManus, outdoor writer
*Viggo Mortensen, actor
*Sarah Palin, current Governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican Vice-President nominee
*Marilynne Robinson, writer and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
*Ben Stein, actor

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 6,835 people, 2,873 households, and 1,680 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,750.9 people per square mile (676.7/km²). There were 3,188 housing units at an average density of 816.7/sq mi (315.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.24% White, 0.12% African American, 1.01% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.46% of the population.

There were 2,873 households out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.5% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.5% were non-families. 34.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 87.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,461, and the median income for a family was $41,596. Males had a median income of $35,533 versus $20,795 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,643. About 14.9% of families and 18.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.9% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.

References

Further reading

*Edward S. Curtis, [http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/curtis/viewPage.cgi?showp=1&size=2&id=nai.07.book.00000087&volume=7#nav "The North American Indian"] , Northwestern University, Digital Library Collections, "Kalispel", Page 51

External links

* [http://www.CityOfSandpoint.com Government of the City of Sandpoint]