Magical Light Over Freeze Church

by Marcy Wielfaert

Title

Magical Light Over Freeze Church

Artist

Marcy Wielfaert

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Over a hundred years ago, settlers journeyed to northern Idaho with high hopes. As homesteaders, farmers and others migrated onto the Palouse Prairie, near Deep Creek. The soil was fertile and forests were abundant, making it easier to cut lumber for new houses and barns. One of the saw mills in Freeze was run by Mr. Strong, who furnished the lumber for this church and helped construct it. In time, a mill churned out the materials for a blacksmith shop, a general store and a post office. C.E. Freeze donated the land for the church and its spire rose above the farming town in 1899.

Though the Palouse country originally beckoned to miners seeking their fortunes in the 1860 gold rush, farmers stayed on for the long haul. Eventually Freeze boasted a population of 200 hardy souls, many of them crowding into the Freeze Church each Sunday to sing Rock of Ages and pray for good harvests. The adjacent cemetery tells its own personal stories of Freeze, Idaho, and C.E. Freeze’s wife and daughter were buried there in those pioneer years.

Over the years, the Freeze Church has been home to several congregations, and many weddings, funerals and celebrations have taken place there. The building is so prominent that National Geographic featured it in its pages in June of 1982, and Country Woman magazine pictured the church surrounded by bright yellow canola blossoms on its 2003 calendar cover. The building carries much historical significance and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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July 8th, 2021

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