Est. 1917 · National Register of Historic Places · Early Commercial Architecture · Bear River Heritage Area
The Enders Building was commissioned in 1917 by William and Theodore Enders, two prominent businessmen in the Soda Springs area, at a then-substantial cost of $75,000. The structure was built in the Early Commercial style typical of small-town Idaho main streets in the early twentieth century. The hotel originally offered thirty rooms.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 and underwent a restoration in 2001 that returned period detail to the rooms and incorporated a small museum, coffee shop, and event space alongside the hotel and Geyser View Restaurant. Soda Springs sits in Caribou County in southeastern Idaho, at the intersection of the Bear River Heritage Area and the Oregon Trail corridor.
The Enders brothers' commercial complex remained an anchor of downtown Soda Springs for more than a century. The hotel rooms blended early-1900s furniture pulled from the building's own collection with limited modern amenities. Standard, Anniversary, and Honeymoon suite categories offered increasingly antique-furnished accommodations.
In November 2024, the Caribou County News reported that the Enders Hotel had closed at the end of October 2024 and that its future was uncertain. In summer 2026 the City of Soda Springs, which owns the building, kept it open during the day for staffed tours, and a public Open Mic night was held in the lobby in January 2026. The building's longer-term use remains in flux pending decisions about reopening or repurposing.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enders_Hotel
- https://www.sodaspringsid.com/visitors/enders_building.php
- https://www.cariboucountynews.com/2024/11/06/512147/the-future-of-enders-unclear
- https://bearriverheritage.com/item/enders-hotel/
- https://deborahgarner.com/the-enders-hotel-soda-springs-id/
ApparitionsPhantom footstepsCold spots
Reports collected by Idaho Haunted Houses, Ghosts of Idaho, and regional travel coverage describe a male apparition associated with the building. Different traditions in Soda Springs identify the figure variously as a man shot and killed in the building or a man who died from a fall down its stairs. A third version of the story involves a woman murdered on the property, although the visible figure consistently described by witnesses is male, which Idaho Haunted Houses notes makes the female-victim story the least likely.
Reported phenomena cluster in the upper hallways and the basement. Witnesses have described seeing a male figure walking the corridors, hearing footsteps overhead in unoccupied rooms, and experiencing a sense of being watched in the basement service areas. Staff and overnight guests have given matching accounts in interviews collected by paranormal-tourism writers.
The hotel did not market itself as a paranormal destination during its operating era; the lore surfaced in regional press, occasional investigation features, and word-of-mouth from staff. With the hotel closed since October 2024, the legends remain attached to a building that is currently inaccessible to overnight visitors.
Notable Entities
The Man in the Halls
