Boise, Idaho - City Overview and History

Boise is the largest city and capital of Idaho. The city itself is a population of a little under a quarter million with the metropolitan area housing about three times that many. The metro is ranked 78th in the US for population, making it a mid-size city that's growing fast between 2010 and 2020.

The metro area grew by 24%, making it one of the fastest growing regions in the country. Stay tuned and you might just find out why. This video is an overview of Boise, it's history, geography, culture, and much more. The area that is now Boise is located on the northern edge of the Snake River plain. This flat region is locally known as the Treasure Valley to the north of the foothills and to the south are the rugged Wahi mountains.

This area was first inhabited by the Shoshone and bannock peoples evidence of which can be found in the form of petroglyphs all over the region. The Boise River flows through the city and ultimately drains into the Snake River about 40 miles west. It is at this confluence where Westerners first established a settlement in the area Fort Boise, built in 1834.

The fort was constructed by the Hudsons Bay Company as a fur trading post. This post was abandoned, and in 1863, the union are being built a new Fort Boise in the city's current location. This time the fort was a military installation designed to protect settlers headed west on the Oregon Trail. The site was selected because it was at the intersection of the Oregon Trail with the road connecting the two largest communities in the area at the time.

The mining towns of Silver City and Idaho City, unlike the mining cities, both of which were in the mountains, Fort Boise was flat in an area that could be easily accessed, farmed, and were Construction was much easier. People soon began settling in the area around the fort. In 1866, Boise was made the capital of the Idaho Territory, and the 1870s census recorded just under a thousand residents increasing to nearly 6,000.

By the turn of the century, an assay office in penitentiary were some of the first government buildings constructed, both of which still stand today. Over time, the mines that led to the creation of the city slowly closed, and although mining operations still exist today, Boise's economy began to shift to a primarily agricultural one.

In order to help facilitate agriculture in the valley, dams began to go up for irrigation. The first major dam in the Boise area was Arrow Rock Dam, which in 1915 was the largest concrete arch dam in the world. Although Boise has never lost population in a census, it came dangerously close during the agricultural depression.

After World War I ultimately, prices for crops recovered and the Treasure Valley's agricultural sector continued to grow through the 1960s. When a charter allowed the City of Boise to annex suburban areas, this along with the creation of Boise State University in 1965 led to a massive influx of suburbanites.

In 1950, Boise had a population of 34,000. 30 years later in 1980, that number increased over a hundred thousand. The population of the metro area also doubled over this time from 140,000 to 280,000. Today, Boise continues to grow quickly. The population of the city is over 230,000 and over three quarters of a million people call the Treasure Valley Home. It's known as the City of Trees, a designation shared with many other cities.

The largest suburbs of Boise are Meridian, the second largest city in the state, Nampa the third largest, and Caldwell. Meridian and Boise are in Ada County while Nampa and Caldwell are in Canyon County. Other notable suburbs include Eagle, a town of 20,000 with a median home listing price of $960,000 as of 2022, and Garden City, which is surrounded on all sides by Boise.

The city of Boise has many distinct neighborhoods, including the North End, a wealthy suburban style neighborhood with treeline streets, the Boise bench, which sits along a bluff overlooking the city. And downtown, which is home to some Tallish buildings. I'm not gonna get into all of them, but shown here is a map created by the Citywide Planning Division. It shows all the neighborhoods. Boise has a lower than average crime rate, and that rate has trended downwards over the past 20 years. Although the city has good K-12 schools within the state, Idaho's education system as a whole is relatively mediocre. As for higher education, Boise State is ranked somewhere in the 300 s by US News and World Report.

University of Idaho is the best in the state, taking home the 179th slot politically, the city of Boise leans slightly Democrat. While Ada County is slightly Republican, neighboring Canyon County is strongly Republican with 68% of 2020 voters voting Republican in the presidential election.

Demographically, the city is slightly older than most cities of its size and much whiter. One interesting thing is that the city is home to the largest bask community in the country. Additionally, Idaho is the second largest Mormon population in the country with around 16% of Boise citizens identifying as LDS members, Boise as a semi arid continental climate, and four distinct seasons.

It gets hot in the summers and cold in the winters, but it stays relatively dry year round. The only significant natural disaster risk is fire, and often during the summer, the Treasure Valley is filled with smoke from nearby fires. The city sits on Interstate 84, which connects Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah.

There's also a limited bus system in the city as far as air travel. The city is served by the mid-size Boise Airport, which has inexpensive flights to Salt Lake City and Seattle. There are some other smaller airports in the area as well. As far as recreation, there are a lot of options for outdoor activities in the area.

People enjoy hiking and mountain biking in the foothills, as well as tubing down the river in the summer and skiing in the winter. The closest ski area is bogus basin, about 35 minutes away from downtown. However, Tamarack, Brundage and Sun Valley are all accessible as day trips. Other day trips include the Sawtooth Mountains, CRAs of the Moon National Monument, and a plethora of hot springs.

Idaho has more hot springs than any other state and many are within a day trip of the city. Overall, it's easy to see why the city has been growing so rapidly over the past 60 years. There's a lot more to Boise than this short video, but hopefully this will give you a general idea of what it's like. I did shoot all the footage for this video in March, so I wasn't exactly doing the city any favors.

Here are some photos of the city in summer, fall, and winter. Thank you for watching. Additionally, I'm thinking about going to other cities and maybe doing videos like this, so if there's anything you think I missed or you'd like me to cover in the future, just let me know.

Credit and thanks to original creator Bob Gorge and his orginal content here.