Special sections

150 Boise icons: The Bench

Did you know? By the 1950s, 30,000 Boiseans, or half the city's population, lived south of the Boise River in 'post-war suburbia.' Sergeant City was the predecessor of developments like Buena Vista and Crescent Rim. The military decommissioned Sergeant City in 1946. In 2011, the Boise Architecture Project included Sergeant City in its list of the most endangered historic sites in the city.

The Bench, made of sediment left behind when ancient rivers cut through the Valley, was home to many of Boise's first "suburbs."

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BOISE 150

150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: Rainbow trout

The population of rainbow trout in the Boise River is healthy today, more than twice what it was a decade ago, said Andy Brunelle, an officer in the local Ted Trueblood chapter of Trout Unlimited. That's thanks to higher winter water flows, protection of riparian areas, habitat restoration and fishing...
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: City Hall Fountain

This fountain once stood in front of Boise's original City Hall on the southeast corner of 8th and Idaho. You can make out the fountain in old photos.
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: The Flicks

The Flicks is Boise's first "art house" cinema.
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: Boise High School

Boise High's predecessor, Central School, opened in 1882. It stood on what's now the Capitol Mall. As one indicator of Boise's growing population in that era, enrollment at Central was 700 students in just a few years. The crowds inspired the school district to buy land on Washington Street for ...
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: Sagebrush

Sagebrush is one of the iconic plants of Boise and its high desert home.
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150 icons to celebrate Boise's sesquicentennial: The Cabin

The building now known as "The Cabin," helped put Idahoans to work during the Great Depression.
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150 Boise icons: Pioneer Cemetery

Pioneer Cemetery is the city's oldest cemetery in continuous use.
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: Vintage drive-ins

Like neon signs, vintage drive-ins differentiate a city from all others.
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: U.S. Bank building

It may not be the tallest building in Idaho anymore, but the U.S. Bank building still has a powerful presence in Downtown Boise.
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150 Boise icons to celebrate the city's sesquicentennial: Pioneer Tent & Awning building

Home of a signature Boise business lives on in Boiseans' memories and anchors a revived part of the city.