By Linda Morton-Keithley, Administrator, and Carolyn Bowler, Archivist
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In 1991 the Idaho State Historical Society acquired a large collection of artifacts from the Joseph Sherwood house, store and museum located on the north shore of Henry's Lake in Fremont County, Idaho. Included were the furnishings of the main building, manuscript materials, and a large photograph collection consisting of glass plate negatives, original prints, postcards, cabinet cards, stereographs, and other miscellaneous items. Of the photographs that have been dated, most were taken before 1910.


Prior to the 1860s, the Henry's lake area was known only to Native Americans, explorers and fur trappers, such as Andrew Henry for whom the lake is named. (Today the area is known by the broader term, "Island Park.") The first permanent settler, Gilman Sawtell, arrived in the late 1860s. Designation of nearby Yellowstone National Park in 1872 brought public attention to the area, and traffic and settlement began to increase. By 1881 a stage line was running between Monida, Montana and Yellowstone Park, by way of Island Park. The trip took three days and visitors spent two nights at so-called "home stations" where meals and a night's lodging were provided. Area residents made their living from farming and ranching, providing accommodations for visitors, trapping, and fishing.


Joseph Sherwood and his first wife, Susan, arrived at Henry's Lake about 1889 (perhaps earlier). To make a living, Joseph built and operated a store, raised cattle, and on November 4, 1889 was named postmaster of the Lake, Idaho, post office, located in his store. Acting as an agent, he packaged fish from local fishermen and shipped them to various places in Montana and California. In a letter to an interested buyer dated October 31, 1892, Sherwood wrote, "The amount of fish usually caught in winter here varies from 50 to 90,000 pounds." He also began a short-lived commercial fish hatchery on property later leased to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.


Joseph took a correspondence course to master the art of taxidermy, later teaching the skills to his second wife, Ann, whom he married in 1899 after Susan's death. Both became very proficient in taxidermy and they managed to mount a specimen of nearly every animal and bird native to the area. A room was set aside on the second floor of the house to display the taxidermy mounts to the public. This collection of wildlife became the nucleus of the Sherwood "museum." Joseph was also a prolific photographer, developing the film himself and displaying the work in a picture gallery, also on the second floor of the house.


In addition to housing the general store, post office, family living quarters and museum, the building served as a "home station" with four bedrooms available for rent to overnight guests traveling from Monida to Yellowstone. Ann Sherwood was responsible for preparing meals and generally caring for these visitors. Joseph also rented boats for rides on Henry's Lake, took visitors on the lake in his own launch, and hosted celebrations for special events such as the Fourth of July.


On February 19, 1907, Joseph was granted U.S. Patent No. 844,963 for an "auto snow-car," devised to fight deep snow drifts and also provide hauling capabilities. He based his design on a horse-drawn four-runner sled. The front runners were used to steer and were controlled by a sprocket gear which could lift them up and over snowdrifts. The sleigh weighed less than a thousand pounds and may have reached speeds up to 12 miles per hour. Joseph also built what is believed to be the first automobile in Island Park. Called "The Black Car," its design was based on pictures Joseph had seen in magazines.


In 1909 a rail line was completed from St. Anthony, Idaho to Yellowstone Park by way of Island Park. Many former stage stops were put out of business by the railroad and also by the introduction, in 1916, of automobile traffic in the Park. The Sherwoods were among those who adjusted to the new traffic patterns by selling gasoline and oil, and offering overnight camping facilities to the motorists.


Following Joseph Sherwood's death in 1919, Ann and other members of the family continued to operate the post office (until 1937) and the store/museum (until the mid-1960s.)


In 2002 the Idaho State Historical Society Public Archives and Research Library was awarded a grant from the Idaho Heritage Trust to make new copy prints from the original glass plate negatives in the Sherwood collection. A complete set of the prints is available in the reading room of the Public Archives and Research Library in Boise; a second set of prints has been donated to the Island Park Historical Society. To request additional information, please click here.