Recently while out and about, I noticed an abandoned-looking school in a friend’s neighborhood.
After some research, it turns out that the school was once known as Emerson Elementary School, and it had been around for quite some time.
The old Emerson Elementary / Cre-Act School Located at 526 S. Grant Ave.
While it is not known when the school was officially built, one of the first photos taken of the school was in 1919. Teaching 1st through 6th grade, Emerson Elementary continued on until the 80s era, when schools changed. In the 90s, the Cre-Act was born into the space, which was a Montessori creative acting school under Catholic ownership.
The school took its final bow in 2010, when the building shut down for good, left to be abandoned for years to come. However, it has been preserved in time, with many of the school’s amenities such as the playground and basketball courts still being on the property.
Within the last few years, the school was repurchased and is currently being remodeled into being an apartment / Airbnb complex. While no finalization date has been released, if any updates are announced in the near future, I will add them here.
When I first visited Pocatello to tour ISU, my dad and I learned about the Museum of Clean in town and it’s safe to say it was an instant decision to visit. While this entire museum could make up a post of its own, and I highly encourage anyone who hasn’t been to check it out, this post will be highlighting one feature in particular: the muffler man that resides inside.
I had just learned about the official term “muffler man” within the last few weeks. Before my current knowledge, I just figured that “Big Don”, the supersized statue of a janitor, was just the cherry on top of an entire museum of oddities.
However, muffler men are actually quite sought after in the U.S. I’ll dive into the history of the concept as a whole in a second, but first of all, I’d like to mention Pocatello’s very own.
I found a bit of background on Big Don in particular from American Giants (usagiants.com), a blog entirely about these roadside attractions, and their female counterparts “uniroyal gals”. Big Don originally started out as a cowboy and stood in front of the Hurricane Car Wash in Nampa, Idaho in the late 1990s. At some point in the early 2000s, this larger-than-life janitor was transferred to Bridger, Montana, and then to a casino in 2003. In 2016 he was purchased by the Museum of Clean to be used as a janitor statue and has left behind the cowboy outfit for a redesigned look of a custodian.
Now to the history of muffler men and uniroyal gals as a whole:
Muffler Men: Produced between the 1960s-1970s, Muffler Men are large fiberglass statues, ranging from 18-25 feet tall that were created to promote roadside businesses and attract customers to landmarks. Although production has stopped, these giant men can still be seen all throughout America, wearing various attire and accessories. The coined term “Muffler Man” didn’t start until the 1990s, as the first statue of their kind was in the likeness of Paul Bunyan holding an axe, and were previously known simply as “giant men”. It wasn’t until the founders of roadsideamerica.com noticed a pattern of many of the men holding car parts for various businesses, most notably mufflers, that the concept of “muffler men” began.
Uniroyal Gals: Also created within the 1960s era, uniroyal gals were made to be a second larger-than-life roadside attraction to act as a companion of sorts for the much more common muffler men. Uniroyal gals share the same features of a muffler man, in terms of height, materials, and various attire, the only true difference being the gender. Created as a gimmick by the Uniroyal Tire Company in the 1950s, uniroyal gals were much slower to catch on, making them a much rarer find in the United States. Idaho has one of our very own, however, which can be found in Blackfoot in front of Martha’s Cafe.
I have yet to have visited this one, but if I ever get the chance, I’ll update it here. For now, here’s a photo of her via Roadside America’s website:
I’ve noticed this little hut many times driving by on errands, and always wondered just what it was in its prime. After looking at the location back in 2008 on Google Earth, I noticed it looked almost identical to what it looks like today. I wondered how long it had been vacant for, or if it was even owned by anyone anymore. I took to the “You Know You Grew Up In Pocatello When..” Facebook group, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite resources for learning about the history of this city.
Below is a photo of the building as of June 2021. It’s currently listed as a bus stop. I think it has quite a lot of potential, it would be great if someone decided to bring life back into it.
Screen Capture of 1204 N. Main St via Google Maps.
According to locals, the spot used to be a Phillips 66 gas station and repair shop owned by a man named Dick Kanow in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Although Kanow sadly passed in the early 2000s, according to the stepmother of his grandchild, fond memories of the spot still thrive, with some childhood Pocatello residents mentioning how Kanow would give them free cookies just for stopping by while they grew up.
No one seems to know the current status of the building today, but it has allegedly been sitting in a similar state for nearly 30 years. As it has never gone for sale, it can be assumed that the building is still under ownership by someone, but as for now, who they are is still a mystery.
