Oregon Trail | |
![]() The Oregon Trail segment as depicted in 1972 | |
Nearest city | Boise, Idaho |
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Coordinates | 43°33′45″N116°09′19″W / 43.56250°N 116.15528°W Coordinates: 43°33′45″N116°09′19″W / 43.56250°N 116.15528°W |
Area | 0 acres (0 ha) |
Built | 1840 |
NRHP reference No. | 72000435 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 18, 1972 |
The Oregon Trail (Ada County, Idaho segment) near Boise, Idaho, includes approximately eight miles of the Oregon Trail as it entered the Boise Valley. The segment was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1972. At the time of the NRHP nomination, wagon tracks from the Oregon Trail could be identified almost continuously from the northwest and northeast quadrants of Section 36, Range 2 East, Township 2 North through the northwest and northeast quadrants of both Section 31, Range 3 East, Township 2 North and Section 24, Range 3 East, Township 1 North. In places along the segment the wagon tracks were eight tracks wide. The length of the segment is roughly from 43°33′38″N116°09′19″W / 43.56055556°N 116.15527778°W to 43°30′52″N116°09′09″W / 43.5143915°N 116.1526384°W . [2]
The Oregon Trail Reserve is a 77-acre site managed by Boise Parks and Recreation, and the area includes part of the Oregon Trail segment designated by the NRHP in 1972. [3] Nearby is the Oregon Trail Recreation Area, another part of the NRHP segment managed by Boise Parks and Recreation. [4]
Although the Oregon Trail followed the segment identified in the NRHP listing, it then continued along the route of what is now Boise Avenue. The Capitol Boulevard Memorial Bridge, also known as the Oregon Trail Memorial Bridge, is located where the Oregon Trail crossed the Boise River by ferry and proceeded through Boise City west toward Caldwell. A series of 21 obelisks now mark the route of the Oregon Trail through Boise. [5]
In the 1830s explorers Nathaniel Wyeth and Benjamin Bonneville traversed the South Pass through the Rocky Mountains into the Oregon Country. Wyeth established Fort Hall in 1834 at what is now southeastern Idaho. Also in 1834, Thomas McKay established Fort Boise in the southwest of Idaho. By the 1840s, the route between the two forts had become a well traveled part of the Oregon Trail. Although he may not have visited the region, geographer Samuel Augustus Mitchell wrote of the landscape, "The region lying between the Rocky and Blue mountains is rocky, barren and broken; stupendous mountain spurs traverse it in all directions, affording little level ground, and on its elevated portions snow lies nearly all the year. It rarely rains here, and no dew falls." [6] [7]
Fort Boise was abandoned in 1854, but a new Fort Boise was established in 1863 at a location farther east. Boise City was platted adjacent to the new fort in 1863. [8]
In 1906 Ezra Meeker placed the first marker in Boise to commemorate the Oregon Trail. The marker is visible at the southeast corner of the Idaho State Capitol grounds. [9]
Fort Hall was a fort that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Idaho, United States. Wyeth was an inventor and businessman from Boston, Massachusetts, who also founded a post at Fort William, in present-day Portland, Oregon, as part of a plan for a new trading and fisheries company. Unable to compete with the powerful British Hudson's Bay Company, based at Fort Vancouver, in 1837 Wyeth sold both posts to it. Great Britain and the United States both operated in the Oregon Country in these years.
Fort Boise is either of two different locations in the western United States, both in southwestern Idaho. The first was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) trading post near the Snake River on what is now the Oregon border, dating from the era when Idaho was included in the British fur company's Columbia District. After several rebuilds, the fort was ultimately abandoned in 1854, after it had become part of United States territory following settlement in 1846 of the northern boundary dispute.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Idaho.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Idaho:
Cathedral of the Rockies, also known as the Cathedral of the Rockies First United Methodist Church, is a United Methodist church located in the historic North End district of Boise, Idaho, United States. The church is the largest United Methodist Church in Boise, Idaho, the largest in the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist denomination, and was the first Methodist church in Boise, founded in 1872.
Oregon Trail Historic District may refer to:
The Capitol Boulevard Memorial Bridge, also known as the Oregon Trail Memorial Bridge, is a historic bridge over the Boise River in Boise, Idaho, United States, the is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The John A. O'Farrell Cabin was built by John A. O'Farrell in Boise, Idaho, in 1863. The cabin is considered the first family home in Boise.
The Ninth Street Bridge in Boise, Idaho, also known as the Eighth Street Bridge, crosses the Boise River and is a 2-span, pin-connected Pratt through truss design constructed by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. and completed in 1911. Each span is 160 ft (49 m) and includes six full panels and two end panels, supported by concrete piers at each end and midway in the river. Laced channel sections with cover plates form the upper chords, with eyebars on the lower chords. Eyebars with turnbuckles form the diagonals. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Union Block and Montandon Buildings in Boise, Idaho, are 2-story commercial buildings with rustic sandstone facades. The Romanesque Revival Union Block was designed by John E. Tourtellotte and constructed in 1901, and the Renaissance Revival Montandon Building was designed by J.W. Smith and constructed in 1908. Also known as the Fidelity-Union Block, the buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1979.
The Idaho National Guard Armory in Boise, Idaho, is an unreinforced, poured concrete building designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel and constructed in three phases beginning with a 1-story section in 1931. The building includes a drill hall large enough for equestrian events and a 2-story office area completed in 1956. The facade is minimally decorated and features Art Deco elements, including a cornice of stepped concrete bands, projecting pilasters, and zigzag patterning.
Lowell School in Boise, Idaho, is a 2+1⁄2-story, brick and stone elementary school constructed in 1913 and named for James Russell Lowell. The building was expanded in 1916, 1926, and 1948, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The Mitchell Hotel in Boise, Idaho, was a 2-story, brick and stone building designed by Tourtellotte & Co. and constructed in 1906. The building featured segmentally arched fenestrations with "denticulated surrounds of header brick." The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The Adolph Schreiber House is a 2-story, Neoclassical Revival house in Boise, Idaho designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel and constructed by contractor O.W. Allen in 1915. The design included a 10-room dwelling and a second-story apartment accessed from a side entrance. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The C.C. Cavanah House in Boise, Idaho, is a 2-story Colonial Revival structure designed by Tourtellotte & Co. and built by W.D. Stevens in 1906 for Charles Cavanah. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The W. E. Jefferson House in Boise, Idaho, is a 1+1⁄2-story Queen Anne, Shingle style cottage designed by Tourtellotte & Co. and constructed in 1907 in Boise's Hyde Park neighborhood. The house features front, right, and left gabled dormers and a cross-facade porch supported by square coffered posts. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The John Green Mausoleum at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise, Idaho, is an eclectic entombment designed by Tourtellotte & Co. and constructed in 1909. The mausoleum is made of stone and shows a Romanesque influence with geometric forms. Bronze doors opposite a single window are the only fenestrations, and corner pilasters frame the structure. A parapet stairway extends beyond an outset gable above the entrance. The mausoleum was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Albert Beck House in Boise, Idaho, is a 1+1⁄2-story Queen Anne house designed by Tourtellotte & Co. and constructed in 1904. The house features sandstone veneer on its first floor walls and on a wrap around porch. Overhanging gables with dimpled dormer vents were prominent at the Fort Street and 11th Street exposures. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Franklin School in Boise, Idaho, was a 2-story, brick and stucco building designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel and constructed in 1926. The school featured a flat roof with a decorated concrete parapet. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982. In 2009 the building was demolished.