Hardware store with an opera house above it? Peter Sonna, an 1890s Boise mayor, built it

By the time Peter Sonna was elected mayor of Boise in 1893, he had been in Idaho since the early 1860s. Like so many of Idaho’s pioneers, he had come to the West during the California Gold Rush of 1849 before following the rush to Idaho in the 1860s. He had mined in Orofino and Warrens before reaching Boise Basin in 1862 and the city in 1863.

He established a general merchandise and hardware store near the corner of 9th and Main streets with partner John Anderson. When Anderson turned up missing, his friends feared he had been killed and offered a $500 reward for information as to his fate. It was later discovered that he had accidentally drowned in Snake River while on his way to his cattle camp.

In January 1872, Sonna advertised in the Idaho Tri-weekly Statesman, “PLOWS: The celebrated Middleton Plows made by A.J. Marston.” It is an early example of how young Idaho strived for self-sufficiency rather than relying on imported merchandise.

Later in the 1870s, Sonna sold the business to Danskin Brothers and returned for two years to New York City, his birthplace. When the Danskins failed, Sonna came back to Boise and took over the site at 9th and Main, where he would one day erect the magnificent Sonna Building, which held his hardware business on the first floor and an opera house on the second.

When it was finished in 1888, with pressed brick brought from Omaha that cost $55 per thousand, it was easily the finest building in town, fronted with Boise’s first concrete sidewalks. When Sonna was elected mayor in 1893, he was able to boast that “he had never borrowed a dollar.” He sold his hardware business to Fletcher-Steen that year. He had been vice-president of the First National Bank since 1876, and was now a partner and promoter of the Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company.

The 1880 U.S. Census tells us that Peter Sonna was born in New York City on Nov. 22, 1835, and listed his age as 47, and his profession as “money loaner.” His ancestry was Scottish on both sides, and his young wife, Mary, 29, was Austrian. They had four daughters — Annie, 7, Amelia, 6, Mary, 4, Agatha, 3 — and one son, Peter Jr., 9 months.

In May 1883, with his growing family needing more space, Sonna built a large addition to his residence on 9th Street between Grove and Front.

In September 1885, Sonna advertised in the Statesman: “The Olds Wagons are now the leading Wagons in Southern Idaho. Peter Sonna is General Agent and keeps a large stock on hand; every improvement necessary for this climate and trade has been added to them without regard to cost. making them the most desirable wagon for Teamsters and Farmers, being fully warranted.”

Mary Sonna had five children to care for but had time for a social life, as we learn from this item in the Statesman of Jan. 4, 1887: “Mrs. Peter Sonna entertained a few of her lady friends last Thursday with an afternoon dinner party.”

When Sonna’s Opera House opened in January 1889, Peter Sonna was honored for this splendid contribution to the cultural life of the city. The hall could seat from 700 to 800 people in what was described as “seats of the latest pattern. The stage arrangements will be of the best and a study has been made as to the acoustic properties of the hall.“

We’ll share more of the Sonna story next week.