Liam Guthrie, Regional History Librarian
As Hailey’s streets remain bare of snow in the middle of January, one can only look back enviously (or thankfully, depending on your disposition) at photos like this one, taken by Martyn Mallory in the winter of 1931. The photo shows Hailey’s main street following a heavy snowfall before snowplows were introduced to the valley. Shoveled piles and snow drifts blanket the street, reaching the height of a person in some places, while a well-trodden footpath skirts the edge of the road.
Hailey pioneer Charlotte Rice said of these winters, “We used to have real severe winters, much more so than we do now. If we didn’t get close to four or five feet of snow on the level, we thought we didn’t have much of a winter.” And that quote was in 1982! Rice goes on to describe how the once-a-day train or horse-drawn sleighs were the primary means of travelling between towns in the winter, though overall the valley’s towns spent their winters largely separated by the weather. A couple of cars appear marooned in the deep snow, while the horse in the background seems to be fairing better. Clearly the Conoco gas station and the auto painting shop did not yet signal the year-round dominance of the car.
Visible on Main Street are some iconic businesses of Hailey’s past and present. On the right-hand corner stands Friedman Co Groceries, which supplied the valley with all manner of mercantile goods for 65 years after its founding in 1881. Right next door to it is the, surprisingly unrelated, S. J. Friedman store which sold clothing. Further down is the original Liberty Theater, which had just recently opened its doors when this photo was taken 95 years ago, and on the opposite side of the street from its current location. Also across the street, on the left in this photo, is the W. H. Watt Bank building, built in 1889 and still standing today as Christopher and Co.
Seeing these historic buildings covered in feet of snow provides a fascinating glimpse of not only how the town has changed in the past century, but the climate as well.
Note this story was originally published in January of 2026 in the Idaho Mountain Express.
