About The Ansorge Hotel Museum
About 1903, Bill & Betty Ansorge, who were experienced hoteliers, moved from Wisconsin to build and operate a hotel-restaurant in the wild-west town of Curlew, Washington. The area, which was previously the northern half of the Colville Reservation, had recently been opened to white settlers and now was teeming with loggers, miners, farmers, and cattlemen.
Railways from Spokane and through Canada were being built and Curlew was on their map. The rail bed built at that time has now become the 24 mile Ferry County Rail Trail, designated for non-motorized activities such as hiking, biking, skiing and horseback riding.
After the Ansorges, the hotel was owned and operated by successive family members: Julius & Paloma Keihl and Leo & Emma Strassburg. In 1964 the hotel was sold to Louella Burns and Richard & Gladys Lembke with the entire contents, including clothing. These owners added their own collections to the contents before donating the hotel in 1979, with all contents included, to the Kettle River History Club to be conserved as a museum.
Our Mission
The mission of the Kettle River History Club is to preserve the mementos, artifacts, lands, buildings, and evidence of the history of the Kettle River area.