100 years after her death, Boise’s 1st documented African-American woman is memorialized
Elvina Moulton, the first documented African-American woman in Boise, was honored Saturday with a plaque at the Idaho Black History Museum by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Moulton’s marker, located just outside the entrance to the museum in Julia Davis Park, is the first new marker for the Boise chapter of DAR in 87 years.
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a women’s service organization that dedicates much of its efforts to “preserving American history,” per its website. It was founded in 1890 and has 185,000 members.
Among the speakers celebrating Moulton’s legacy on Saturday was Idaho state Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise. Though he was not in attendance, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter issued a proclamation that April 27, 2019, would be known as Elvina Moulton Day.
“We in Idaho don’t have to live by what things were,” Buckner-Webb said. “We play an integral part in making Idaho what it is.”
According to the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, Moulton is believed to have been the first African-American woman in Boise. She was a former slave from Kentucky who came to Boise around 1867, per the database. She helped found Boise’s First Presbyterian Church in 1878.
Moulton’s first home was located on 10th Street and Idaho Street; her second was on South 4th Street, Daughters of the American Revolution spokeswoman Erin Taylor told the Statesman in an email.
Moulton, who died in 1917 at the age of 79, is buried at the Morris Hill Cemetery.
According to Taylor, Moulton walked the Oregon Trail all the way from Missouri to reach Boise. Moulton was never married but “the community knew her as a kind and independent woman who worked hard.”
“The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution works to preserve our history and bring recognition to people like Elvina Moulton. This marker celebrates a Boise pioneer and the diverse group of people who came together to make Boise into the beautiful city it is today,” Taylor wrote. “Although it has been over a century since Miss Moulton lived in Boise, it’s never too late to recognize her for her contributions to our city.”