SPOKANE — The former site of a white supremacist compound in Idaho soon will be on the market.
The North Idaho College Foundation plans to sell the undeveloped 0.03-square-mile property near Hayden Lake and put the proceeds into an endowment for human rights education, The Spokesman-Review reported on Thursday.
The land, formerly of the Aryan Nations, once served as headquarters for white supremacists under the leadership of Richard Butler.
The Aryan Nations went bankrupt after losing a $6.3 million civil lawsuit in 2000, and the compound was later purchased by tech multimillionaire and philanthropist Greg Carr and the Carr Foundation.
The foundation then gifted the property to the North Idaho College Foundation.
The new endowment will be named after Carr, North Idaho College Foundation Executive Director Rayelle Anderson said.
“The endowment earnings will be annually distributed in perpetuity to North Idaho College in support of human rights education,” Anderson said.
The property was valued at about $260,000 last year for tax purposes.
Norm Gissel, a retired Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, attorney, worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to bankrupt the Aryan Nations. Gissell on Wednesday recalled the incident that sparked the lawsuit that led to the bankruptcy of the white supremacist group.
On the night of July 1, 1998, members of the Aryan Nations chased, assaulted and shot at a mother and son on a dirt road outside the compound, he said.
“It’s a beautiful piece of land,” Gissel said. “I’m very excited about the prospect of moving on and turning that over to a private developer.”
