A Love letter from boise

The article by From Boise is like a heartfelt note from Boise, sharing all the little things—beautiful seasons, cool outdoor spots, and the warm community—that make you fall in love with living here.

Iconic Boise Signs

The article by From Boise highlights several of Boise's iconic signs, including Rudy the Rooster atop the Capri Restaurant, the neon hat of the Cabana Inn, the rearing palomino at the former Ranch Club (now Somewhere Bar), and Betty the Washer Woman on Vista Avenue, detailing their histories and significance to the local community.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2025

As we step into 2025, we are energized and ready to build on the incredible momentum of the past year.
Here's a glimpse of what’s in store:

Happy Cheers and A Huge Thank You from Preservation Idaho!

As 2024 comes to a close, we are grateful for your support. Thanks to your generosity we continue to collaborate, educate, and advocate for Idaho's historic places.

2024 Matching
campaign success!

From the campaign’s launch in late September through its conclusion on December 31st, your collective efforts propelled this challenge to remarkable heights.

47th Annual
Orchids & Onions announcement

Each year, an independent review committee selects awardees from a pool of submitted nominations. Preservation Idaho is thrilled to announce the 2024 Orchids and Onions Awardees.

ACHP Announces Termination of Consultation on Idaho Project

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) today announced it is terminating consultation on the development of a Section 106 agreement with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the Lava Ridge Wind Project in Jerome, Lincoln, and Minidoka counties, Idaho. Pursuant to its responsibilities under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the ACHP will prepare formal comments on the project and submit them to the BLM director. Once the BLM director considers and responds to the ACHP’s comments, the Section 106 review for this undertaking will be concluded.

Reported by: Reader Staff

Preservation Idaho to honor Belwood Building at Orchid Awards in Pocatello

Long a downtown Sandpoint landmark, the Belwood Building at 301 Cedar St. will be honored with an Orchid Award from Preservation Idaho at a gathering Saturday, Aug. 10 in Pocatello. Since 1977, Orchid Awards have been given to individuals and organizations around the state for outstanding contributions to historic preservation. Onion Awards, however, are meant to raise awareness about projects that have failed to respect cultural history.

The Belwood Building — which dates back to 1907 when it was a mercantile and later the St. James Hotel — is among the 10 statewide honorees in the 47th Orchids and Onions, earning its accolade in the Contribution to Historic Preservation category for the “tasteful restoration, addition or remodel of an existing building.

Saving history pays off

Preservation Idaho's 47th annual Orchids and Onions Awards recipient for Friend of Preservation was Hamilton House/Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene.

"We're honored and so grateful at the Music Conservatory to have received this award," said Zoe Thurman, a director with the Music Conservatory. "We could not have saved this house from demolition without the full support of this wonderful community. Our historic landscape is just that, our historic landscape. It belongs to, and enriches, all of us that live in this town, and it remains our diligent, individual responsibility to speak up and act to save our historic heritage."

Reported by: Bill Buley - Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press

The future of Boise’s oldest pools has been decided.

During COVID-19, Boise shut down all of its public pools. After the pandemic, it left its two oldest pools — Lowell Pool and South Pool — shuttered amid concerns about their safety and structural integrity, including possible asbestos, corroded pipes and walls and stairs in poor condition, according to the city’s website. Boise advocates for historic preservation have been vocal since about their desire to restore and reopen the pools, which are two of the last of their architectural style in the country.

Reported by: Sarah Cutler - Idaho Statesman

Mayor McLean breaks tie on future of historic South and Lowell pools

After years of talks, two Boise pools are on the road to being cannonball-ready once again with some changes.

On Tuesday, the Boise City Council voted on a slate of options for the future of two historic city pools that have been mothballed since their closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The city kept South and Lowell pools, distinctly shaped above-ground pools dating back to 1953, closed after the pandemic due to concerns about their design violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and their “overall poor condition.”

Reported by: Margaret Carmel - BoiseDev Sr. Reporter

Special thanks to: The Basque Museum and Cultural Center, John Bertram and JanyRae Seda, Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb, Downtown Boise Neighborhood Association, Dan Everhart, Emily Fritchman-Mahaney, M.A., Alvon Griffin, Jr., Idaho Black History Museum, Idaho State Archives, Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, David Kociol, St. Paul Baptist Church, Studio A, Thrive Web Designs, Treasure Valley NAACP, Boise City Department of Arts & History, and City of Boise. Project was funded by National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Telling the Full History Preservation Fund, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

River Street Neighborhood Walkabout At your fingertips

One of our greatest successes to date was the completion of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Telling the Full History Preservation Fund grant.

This $25,000 grant is one of the largest single grants we have received in our 50 years. The grant allowed us to create a free, streaming self-guided walking/driving tour through the historic River Street Neighborhood near downtown Boise. The tour educates the public on the long history and the past of the multicultural neighborhood and its changing demographic and social makeup over the 100-plus years since its establishment. The grant also allowed us to create and to install bespoke signage that identifies the main perimeters of the neighborhood to allow people driving through to understand they are moving through history and to make them aware of the free tour. Our aspirational goal is for the City of Boise to create a local historic district that will create permanent legal protections for the remaining historic properties in the River Street Neighborhood. Finally, we are delighted that our work in the River Street Neighborhood was featured in the Winter 2024 issue of Preservation Magazine. This article is the first time in recent memory that the work of Preservation Idaho has received national attention.

‘Meridian is disappearing:’ Advocates, developers work for compromise on historic silos

The last double silo in the Treasure Valley stands in the middle of an area now proposed for development.

If annexed into the city, Farmstone would have several commercial buildings and help to allow for the extension of Vanguard Way in Meridian. However, historical preservation advocates have raised concerns about what the development would mean for the unique structure that stands as a reminder of Meridian’s agricultural past.

Reported by Sydney Kidd - BoiseDev Reporter

City of Boise to study reopening South and Lowell pools

The City of Boise is looking closer at what it would take to reopen the historic South and Lowell pools.

On Tuesday, the Boise City Council gave the go-ahead to hire an outside architect and contractor to do a design study to determine a set of options for reopening the two sites and how much it would cost to get residents swimming once again. The study will cost $160,000 and will take about four months to complete.

Reported by Margaret Carmel - BoiseDev Sr. Reporter

Boise in hot water: Dive into the history of the old ‘Nat’

In a previous Inside Idaho, we told readers about Boise’s unique geothermal system, which is the largest geothermal system in the country, and how it heats over 90 buildings across the city. Today, we dive into one of the first structures that ran off Boise’s geothermal energy.

Built in 1892, the Boise Natatorium – commonly called the ‘Nat’ – was a large destination recreation center located on Warm Springs Avenue – where the outdoor public pool sits today.

Reported by: Anna Daly - BoiseDev Reporter

ITD’s former HQ campus in Boise was to get new housing. Then the Legislature stepped in.

One of Boise’s biggest redevelopment projects is on shaky foundations after legislators advanced a bill to block the nearly $52 million sale of the Idaho Transportation Department’s 44-acre campus on State Street.

The property at 3311 W. State St. near Lowell Elementary School and Veterans Memorial Park has been mostly vacant since a 2022 flood damaged the building, forcing the Idaho Transportation Department, or ITD, to move to the former Hewlett-Packard campus at 11311 W. Chinden Blvd.

Reported by: Nick Rosenberger

‘Impacted the city in a positive way’: Meridian Speedway named to historic register

Meridan racetrack is now an official part of history.

The Meridian Speedway landed on the National Register of Historic Places. A news release says the speedway was selected for its local agriculture connections and recreational history in the city and county.

“Meridian Speedway has been an integral part of Meridian’s culture and history for nearly 75 years. It has drawn crowds from all over the Treasure Valley and beyond and has certainly impacted the city in a positive way,” Blaine Johnson, President of the Meridian Historic Preservation Commission, said.

Reported by Autum Robertson - BoiseDev Reporter

Internal emails indicate proposed armory redevelopment is off the table

A proposal from Utah-based Alpha Development, Ball Ventures and duURBAN Communities came on the radar in the summer of 2021 with hopes to develop the parking lot next to the iconic building with a mix of apartments, townhomes and 3,000 feet of commercial space. The armory was planned to be left untouched for now until a possible second phase of the project later.

The proposal got nearly unanimous support from theBoise City Council a year ago despite concerns from neighbors about the building’s height, the project drawing more traffic to the area and how the project would impact the historic nature of the site.

Reported by Margaret Carmel - BoiseDev Sr. Reporter

Cucina di Paolo to close. Building and ‘Betty’ to be sold

A Boise Bench restaurant recognized for its American and Italian comfort food and the iconic animatronic woman doing laundry atop the business’s sign- announced its closing.

Cucina Di Paolo will close its restaurant at 1504 S. Vista Avenue. With a closing date of April 27th, customers still have a few months to enjoy its pot pies, lasagna, baked goods, and other take-home dishes.

Reported by: Anna Daly - BoiseDev Reporter

River Street Review: Boise, Idaho, Preservationists Spotlight A Local Neighborhood's Multicultural Past

In 1956, Boise, Idaho, resident Earline Browning wrote Martin Luther King Jr. a letter. Along with her encouraging words, she included two pairs of shoes (“some of my better ones,” she noted) for any women involved in his Civil Rights work who might need them. It was her way of showing support, though she lived thousands of miles away from the epicenter of the movement and did not have extra money to send. “I’m with you even if I’m so far off,” she wrote. She signed her letter, “From one of the race, Mrs. Earline Browning.”

Browning’s modest cottage (shown at top) is part ofa new, self-guided audio tour created by the nonprofitPreservation Idaho. Located in Boise’s River Street neighborhood, the free tour highlights places of historical importance in the city’s Black, AAPI, and Basque communities, among others. Made possible by a $25,000 grant from the National Trust’sTelling the Full History Preservation Fund (which was created with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities), the 10-stop tour also includes places such as the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, a nexus of the small but significant Civil Rights movement in Boise; and the Imai Family House, whose owners were incarcerated during World War II at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in southern Idaho.

Written by: Meghan Drueding

‘It’s a bad idea’: Legislation aims to disrupt sale of old ITD campus

The distinctive turquoise, mid-century Phillip E. Batt building on State Street has been sitting empty for the past two years in anticipation of demolition and sale for redevelopment.

The building and adjoining 44-acre campus served as the Idaho Transportation Department’s headquarters from 1961 until the state started considering consolidating its state agencies to the former HP Campus in West Boise. Possible plans to move ITD out of the aging building kicked into overdrive after a January 2022 flood left the building uninhabitable after water damage hit all three floors and displaced several hundred employees.

Reported by Margaret Carmel - BoiseDev Sr. Reporter

Condos, offices and retail/restaurant planned directly across from Idaho Statehouse

A plan to tear down an old bank building right outside the Idaho Statehouse is taking another step forward. As we reported last year, Swanby Investment Group hopes to demolish the old Home Federal Bank branch at 800 W. State and build a new six-story building with retail, office space and residential condos. The firm, led by Ednetics founder Shawn Swanby, submitted a concept review with the City of Boise, which is a precursor to a formal application.

Reported by Don Day - BoiseDev Editor & Founder

Friends of Minidoka seeks historic protections as shield from wind farm

The Friends of Minidoka, the nonprofit arm to the Minidoka National Historic Site, is seeking additional historic protections for the World War II Japanese incarceration camp, in an attempt to halt the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project.

“We've realized that we needed some long-term protections for the Minidoka viewshed and to protect that immersive experience,” said Robyn Achilles, the executive director.

Reported by: Rachel Cohen - Boise State Public Radio News