Affection for C.W. Moore Park is a complicated thing. On one hand, the park is a lovely place. Like the best urban "pocket parks," it offers a sense of seclusion, coziness, even moving water.

On the other hand, the site is a reminder of Boise's lost buildings that fell during the urban renewal wave in the 1970s.

Remnants from old buildings on the site include the turret from the Pierce Building built in 1903. It stood across Main Street from the Idanha Hotel. Demolition of the Pierce in 1975 made way for One Capital Center.

A stone from Central School occupies a central spot in the park. The school stood near the Capitol Mall. It was torn down in 1973.

The park's water wheel came from Morris Hill Cemetery. Similar wheels once dotted the city's extensive irrigation ditch system. The old Grove Street ditch, built in 1866 just three years after the city was platted, still runs along the south side of the park.

The park has a long history as public space. C.W. Moore, one of Boise's earliest residents and co-founder of the First National Bank of Idaho, gave the land to the city in 1916, the year he died. He intended it as a children's park and playground. That finally happened a decade later.

Boisean Robert Barbour lived across the street from the park until 1930, when he was six years old.

"I can still picture the park. I remember that it had swings, a slide and a large sandbox. As I recall, there were several large trees," said Barbour.

When he was a boy, 5th Street was unpaved and covered with sand. He had another connection to the park and its generous donor. His father worked for many years at the First National Bank Moore founded.

In 1956, a former World War II-era barracks was moved to the site, displacing the playground. The building became the offices of the Idaho Society of Crippled Children and Adults.

When the society moved in 1975, the Boise Jaycees used the building as a community and youth center.

The building was eventually removed to return the land to its intended purpose. The city dedicated it as a park in 1983.

150 S. 5th St.

Anna Webb: 377-6431