Editing Nampa, Idaho (section)

==History==
Nampa had its beginnings in the early 1880s when the [[Oregon Short Line Railroad]] built a line from [[Granger, Wyoming]], to [[Huntington, Oregon]], that passed through Nampa. In Nampa there is a history museum that marks the railroad's significance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.nampa.id.us/pages/history.php |title=City of Nampa |access-date=May 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525182026/http://www.ci.nampa.id.us/pages/history.php |archive-date=May 25, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> More railroad lines sprang up through Nampa, making it an important [[railway town|railroad town]]. Alexander and Hannah Duffes established one of the town's first homesteads, eventually forming the Nampa Land and Improvement Company with the help of their friend and co-founder, James McGee. Despite the name, many early settlers called the town "New Jerusalem" because of its citizens' strong religious focus. After only a year the town grew from 15 homes to 50. As amenities were added, Nampa continued to grow, and it was incorporated in 1891.

Downtown Nampa's street grid is oriented with the railroad tracks, which run northwest–southeast; {{citation needed span|date=February 2025|text=this was done intentionally by Alexander Duffes to prevent accidents like one that occurred earlier in a town he had [[plat]]ted near [[Toronto]], where a woman and her two children were killed by a train when their buggy wheel got stuck as they crossed the tracks.}} As the Oregon Short Line railroad originally bypassed [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]], Nampa has the fanciest of many [[railroad]] [[train station|depots]] built in the area.

Nampa gained attention in 1889 due to a purported archaeological discovery known as the [[Nampa figurine]]. [[George Frederick Wright]] wrote up details that year for the [[Boston Society of Natural History]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=George Frederick |url=https://archive.org/details/nampimagecorresp00wrigrich/ |title=The Nampa image: correspondence relating to its discovery, with explanatory comments, etc. |date=1890 |publisher=Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History |others= |volume=XXIV |location=Boston |publication-date=1889}}</ref>

The first [[primary education|elementary school]] was built in the 1890s. Lakeview School was on a hill on 6th Street and 12th Avenue North, with a view of Lake Ethel. Just after the school's centennial celebration, it was condemned as a school and sold to the [[Mennonite|First Mennonite Church]]. In 2008 the building was refurbished, and it is now used by the Idaho Arts Charter School.

Lake Ethel, an irrigation reservoir, had long been the site of community picnics, and many citizens fished, swam, boated, and even hunted on it and its surrounding property. But the hunting didn't last long, as O. F. Persons, owner of the adjoining homestead, took offense when local hunters started shooting his pet ducks.<ref>Muhr, Eric. "Lakeview Park replaces Lake Ethel." ''The Idaho Press-Tribune''. ''Cavalcade'' February 2005.</ref>

The city later auctioned off the lake. E. H. Dewey (a former Nampa mayor) was the only bidder. But occasional flooding led to a series of lawsuits from neighbors. Dewey eventually drained Lake Ethel. Not long after, the city council became interested in buying back the Fritz Miller property as well as the Dewey home. Pressure had been building for more than four years. Nampa citizens wanted another park. On August 7, 1924, the city council passed an ordinance to purchase the Miller property and name it Lakeview Park. A bandstand was completed in 1928, and the municipal swimming pool opened on August 13, 1934. It is Nampa's largest park and many community celebrations are held there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nampaparksandrecreation.org/parksdepartment/park.aspx?parkId=3|title=Lakeview Park|website=Nampaparksandrecreation.org|access-date=August 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100519183050/http://www.nampaparksandrecreation.org/parksdepartment/park.aspx?parkId=3|archive-date=May 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Colonel William H. Dewey, a man who made a fortune mining in [[Silver City, Idaho|Silver City]], built the Dewey Palace Hotel in 1902 for $250,000. He died in his hotel in 1903, leaving his son $1 million.{{cn|date=December 2024}} The hotel survived the great fire of 1909, which burned several blocks of downtown Nampa, but was razed in 1963 after redevelopment plans failed. Relics from the hotel such as the chandelier and the hotel safe can be found at the Canyon County Historical Museum, which is in the old train depot on Front Street and Nampa City Hall.{{cn|date=December 2024}} After demolition the location on First Street between 11th and 12th Ave. South was sold to private enterprise, including a bank and tire store, replacing this building with modern structures. A public-use postage stamp sized park was later placed across the street from the old palace property as a collaboration between the Downtown Alliance of Nampa (the local business council) and an Eagle Scout Project for the Boy Scouts of America. The park includes a large mural/wall sculpture of running horses commissioned for the project.

A [[Carnegie library]] was built downtown in 1908; it burned down after the library moved in 1966. [[Nampa Public Library]] was then on the corner of 1st Street and 11th Avenue South in the old bank building. A new library, on 12th Avenue South, opened in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Library History |url=https://nampalibrary.org/library-history/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=nampalibrary.org}}</ref>

Deer Flat Reservoir, an offstream irrigation storage reservoir, was constructed by the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] between 1906 and 1911. Known locally as [[Lake Lowell]], it is surrounded by the [[Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge]], established in 1909 by President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. The refuge is administered by the [[U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]]. Lake Lowell is filled by the concrete New York Canal; the water is diverted from the [[Boise River]] a few miles below [[Lucky Peak Dam]].{{cn|date=December 2024}}

In 1910, the Idaho State School and Hospital was built northwest of Nampa for the state's [[Developmental disability|developmentally challenged]] population. It opened in 1918. The institution was largely self-sufficient, with a large farm staffed by the residents. The higher-functioning residents also cared for residents who could not care for themselves. The land for the farm was sold and is now golf courses (Centennial and Ridgecrest), and the residents no longer give primary care to other residents. The institution is modernized and remains in operation, though a few of the oldest buildings now house juvenile offenders.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Nampa held an annual [[harvest festival]] and [[farmers' market]] from about 1908, a time of celebration and community fun. From this festival emerged the [[Snake River Stampede Rodeo]] in 1937, which continues to this day. It is one of the top 12 [[rodeo]]s in the pro rodeo circuits.

In 1913, a local congregation of the [[Church of the Nazarene]] built a small elementary school, which became to Northwest Nazarene College in 1915 and finally [[Northwest Nazarene University]]. As of 2025, the university has approximately 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=At a Glance |url=https://nnu.edu/about/at-a-glance/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Northwest Nazarene University |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Karcher Mall]] opened in 1965, the first enclosed shopping mall in the [[Treasure Valley]]. It was "the place to gather" for several decades until the [[Boise towne square|Boise Towne Square]] mall was built in Boise in 1988, drawing business away. Karcher Mall was renamed District 208 in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-02 |title=Karcher Mall changes: More than 250 apartments, new retail and storage coming to Nampa |url=https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/growing-idaho/karcher-mall-changes-more-than-250-apartments-new-retail-and-storage-coming-to-nampa-district-208-idaho/277-2b51b74e-86b4-473b-b484-f9a8574230d1 |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=ktvb.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[The Idaho Press-Tribune]] is the local newspaper for the [[Canyon County]] area. Since early 2009, the facility has been the contract printer for [[The Idaho Statesman]], whose antiquated press equipment was retired and not replaced.

{{Panorama|image=File:Nampa,_Idaho_panorama_1907_pan6a03730u.jpg|width= 1000|height= 150|caption={{center|Nampa in 1907}}}}