This tour was curated by: Melba Valley Museum
Melba Valley Museum
The St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Melba was established in 1916. It was originally St. Joseph's Mission. The church is located north of the town very close to the school. It has a sister parish and school in Nampa. This church has served the Melba community for 106 years. See the website for more information.
The Baptist Church was first established in 1916. It was built on land that was donated by Clay C. Todd the founder of Melba. This church is located on the corner of Randolph and 4th street. For many years this church has been attended by the local folks of Melba
The Melba Friends Church was first built in the 1920's. It is located on the corner of Randolph and 3rd street, directly behind the Melba Valley Museum. The current view is not the original building. The building has been remodeled several times and burned down in the mid 70's.
The original LDS Church was located on the corner of Carrie Rex and 3rd Street. It was a dance hall owned by Mr. Fuller. In 1920, Mr. Fuller wanted to sell the dance hall. It was partitioned off and rooms fixed up so that they could hold Sunday School and Church there. That was the LDS church building until 1953, when present building on Randolph was built.
In 1946, the Swarthout family built the Westinghouse store and gun shop. Later, it was bought by Mary Kimery and turned into a variety store. Having commerce in Melba was important. It kept the money in the small town of Melba. Folks would have to travel to Kuna or Nampa to buy their goods if they couldn't get it in Melba.
This is the fifth Post Office building in Melba since 1912. This post office was built in 1969 with Clark Wylie as it's first postmaster that year. It had several locations throughout the years. This post office is a great addition to the community as many small post offices have closed. Postmasters from 1924 thru 1995 were Mr. Pettijohn, Mrs. Todd, Clark Wylie, Charlotte Nelson and Rosie Peck.
The Tower Theatre was built in 1946 by George Lindholm. It was purchased by Walters Butte Grange in 1957. As of 2022 it is owned by the Melba Friends Church. It is used for local events, church functions and other community needs. Some families rent it out for reunions during the holidays.
The Melba City Hall was converted from the original Fire Station that was built back in 1962. You can see from the look of the building that it was once a fire station. The current Mayor for Melba in 2022 is Cory Dickard. Melba has been referred to as the "Seed Heart of America." This reference is due to the diversity of crops raised in the valley.
The American Legion Hall was originally the Melba Grade School. The Melba School District was formed on April 20, 1914. The building was built immediately after the district was formed. They constructed the two rooms on the north side, along with the bell tower. By 1921 four rooms had been completed.
The current Fire Station was built in 1965. It was built in the former location of the school horse barn. The current Chief of Fire is John Engle. Deputy Chief is John Brown. Along with fire fighters, there is also an EMS team to support the community of Melba. EMS team has it's own station along 4th street in Melba.
This church was built in 1927 by the Methodist Community. Records showing that in 1930 the church was named Community Methodist Episcopal Church with 33 women on the roll. This congregation later moved out of Melba and became Southside Methodist Church, still a vibrant church on Southside Boulevard in Nampa. The Melba Assembly of God Church was formed in 1943 by Edna Cline and Fay Greg. They rented the Grange Hall in Melba and invited people to come. Fay preached and Edna held Sunday School. They had morning and evening services. Rev. Russell and Maybelle King came to pastor in 1944. They then moved to the vacant Methodist church at 420 Carrie Rex Ave where they paid $10 a month to rent. In 1946 Russell V Faust became pastor. Under his ministry a new parsonage was built next door and the church was purchased. The church grew and grew and in 2006, they moved to a new larger building on Hwy 45 near Melba Road. The building is currently (2022) used by the Church of Christ congregation.
Located across the High School in the Melba football field is original Glendale School Bell. It was in use from 1929 through 1959, beckoning children of the beginning of each school day.Glendale school was built in1915 on ground donated by Mr. McDonough and Mr. Reineke, one acre each. The building consisted of two rooms with nine or ten pupils in attendance the first year.
Located on the corner of 4th Street and Randolph is the site of the Blacksmith shop. Before it was a Blacksmith shop it was also a garage to repair automobiles, and a restaurant. It is best known for the Blacksmith shop owned and operated by Vance Leavitt. Vance worked in the shop for more than 20 years.
Cook's Two Hole Bar is located in the building that was Melba's 4th post office. In 1957, the post office moved to Fred Barr's building. The third post office was located across the street in a building that is no longer there. Mrs. Bessie Todd was named Postmaster at that time.
Melba Co-op Building was built in 1918. The co-op was placed on Broadway street and considered main street in Melba. It was a place for people to bring their produce to sell to other folks. It was a drug store, garage and restaurant through the years. On Saturday nights in the mid 20's this street was very busy with people coming into town to buy groceries and catch up on the latest gossip.
In 1941, Edmond Ed Webb built the drug store on 305 Broadway. Herschel Cummins had had a drug store in Melba previously. In May of 1936, Ed and Glyda, with their two children, Judy and Ted, partitioned off the old store building down town and moved into the back. Fixed shelves in the front and went into business.
The Conyer's store was originally built in 1913. Later it was turned into a hardware store owned by Mr. McLain. The building has been owned by many folks over the years. Bob Proesch owned the building and ran a grocery store called Broadway Market. After the Broadway Market moved, Double D Feed and Seed bought the building.
Buck's Palace Bar is built on the site of the first water well in Melba. H.V. "Buck" Pfister built the bar in 1946. Buck's Tavern was a favorite hangout for many of the guys in town, farmers and otherwise, and it would be a point of geographic reference for more than 40 years.
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Melba was established back in 1912. The Todd family purchased 160 acres of land and was instrumental in the development of the valley. The name of the town came from the Todd's daughter - Melba. To learn more about Melba, the Gardner hotel and several other historical points of interest, stop by the Melba Valley Museum. The museum is open May through October on Saturdays from 11 to 3.
