Said to date from the late 1860s, this historic log cabin is Lewiston's oldest surviving residence and once sat on 19th Street between Main and G Streets. The first documented owner was Samuel C. Thompson (1820-1898), who came to Lewiston in 1862 and became one "of the chief wealth holders of the county," eventually owning nearly all of Lewiston between 14th to 21st Streets.
In February 1879, William B. Akins (1827-1884) rented the cabin with his wife and their sons, John and Sage, and soon began buying up property in the area. John (1866-1940) became a steamboat captain and commanded the Lewiston, while Sage (1868-1942) served on the City Council for 14 years.
An Italian-born gardener and local resident since 1886, Salvadore Miranda (1859-1941) and his wife Mary purchased the property from Thompson's widow in 1898, added surrounding lots in 1901 and 1904, and erected a new house on 21/2 acres, where his truck farm would produce the region's first crops of celery. Lewiston businesswoman Louisa Aquino Murphy (1890-1978) lived with the family as an immigrant teenager and saved three-year-old Dominic Miranda from the fire that destroyed the new home in January 1910.
In June 1937, the Pioneer Society of North Idaho relocated the cabin to the north end of Pioneer Park, near the Carnegie Library. The building was
moved to this site in May 2013 and underwent conservation, restoration and preservation.
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home
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