Editing Boise, Idaho (section)

=== Incorporation and growth ===
[[File:Main Street, Looking East, Boise, ID.jpg|thumb|left|Main Street in 1911]]

Boise's early growth was significantly driven by its role in supplying the nearby gold towns that sprung up in the 1860s northeast and then southwest of the town. Miners sometimes wintered in Boise and a number of early prominent businessmen were miners who settled in town in the years after the gold rush waned.<ref name="MacGregor2006">{{Cite book |last=MacGregor |first=Carol Lynn |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69423136 |title=Boise, Idaho, 1882-1910: prosperity in isolation |date=2006 |publisher=Mountain Press Pub |isbn=0-87842-522-5 |location=Missoula, Mont. |oclc=69423136}}</ref> By 1864 substantial agricultural production was underway on easily irrigated lands near the river and three canal companies had been incorporated.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Early Irrigation Canals Pre-Project Ventures |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0171.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |location=Boise, Idaho |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |issue=171}}</ref> Early transportation improvements were largely a result of toll road franchises awarded by the territorial legislature starting in the 1860s. These first ran from Fort Boise to the mining centers in the Boise Basin and east to Rocky Bar and to Rattlesnake Station where they connected to the Oregon Trail.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=South Boise Stage Lines |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0465_South-Boise-Stage-Lines.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |location=Boise, Idaho |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |issue=465}}</ref>

Territorial census records from a special 1864 enumeration list the population of Boise as 1,658, and an act of December 12, 1864, was the first attempt by the Idaho Territorial Legislature to incorporate the city.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Census of 1864 |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0130.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=130}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Territorial Legislative Apportionment |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/0046.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=46}}</ref> This was rejected by voters the following March. Two more unsuccessful attempts were made to organize a city administration by election before the 1866 version of the city charter was approved by voters on January 6, 1868. The growing number of homes and businesses, for which owners wanted proper legal title, may have contributed to the eventual success of incorporation. All of these rejected efforts to incorporate the city came ''after'' Boise had been controversially made the state capital in 1864 over strong opposition from northern Idaho interests. This decision reflected the rapid shift of population growth from north to south after the discovery of gold in southern Idaho.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Boise City Charter |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/0030.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Location of Idaho's Territorial Capital |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0344_Location-of-Idahos-Territorial-Capital.pdf |journal=Idaho Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=344}}</ref> By 1868 Boise had over 400 permanent buildings with a wide range of commercial services. 1868 also marked the formal beginning of a long advocacy for railroad connections to other Idaho communities and, just as importantly, to other growing cities in the west such as Portland, Oregon.<ref name="Wells2000">{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=Merle W. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46835336 |title=Boise : an illustrated history |date=2000 |publisher=American Historical Press |others=Arthur A. Hart |isbn=1-892724-13-8 |location=Sun Valley, Calif. |oclc=46835336}}</ref> Competing railroad and western state government interests frustrated these efforts for many years.

Designed by [[Alfred B. Mullett]], the [[Assay Office (Boise, Idaho)|U.S. Assay Office]] at 210 Main Street was built in 1871 and today is a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Survey |first=Historic American Buildings |title=U. S. Assay Office, 210 Main Street, Boise, Ada County, ID |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/id0033/ |access-date=June 11, 2020 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref> It first began accepting gold and silver for purchase on March 2, 1872, largely eliminating the need to transport ore to the mint in San Francisco.<ref name="Wells2000"/> A territorial penitentiary, now known as the [[Old Idaho State Penitentiary]], opened the same month several miles east of town.<ref name="Wells2000" /> Mining continued to be important to Boise's economic growth and periodic booms contributed to population growth as well, though production of gold and silver probably peaked in the 1860s. 1882's gold and silver production of $3,500,000 declined to $1,488,315 (including lead) by 1899.<ref name="MacGregor2006" />

Boise began to earn its ''City of Trees'' nickname in this period with a popular focus on a range of tree planting projects. Thomas J. Davis planted several thousand fruit trees in 1864 and several other early businessmen either founded nurseries or orchards of their own. In the 1870s tree planting began in earnest in downtown Boise led by prominent hotels as well as businessmen and residents. In 1907 Davis donated 43 acres of his orchard property to the city for use as a park in the name of his wife Julia.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Trees in Early Boise |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/0031.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Julia Davis Park |url=https://www.cityofboise.org/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks/julia-davis-park/ |access-date=March 8, 2023 |website=City of Boise}}</ref> Commercial agriculture continued to expand, but was slowed by the lack of reliable rail links to regional and national markets and by a lack of large scale irrigation projects, which themselves were often tied to hoped-for railroad projects for financing. A.D. Foote, a successful mining engineer, drew up plans to irrigate up to 500,000 acres immediately south of Boise in 1882, but progress was halting and smaller farms were the norm until after the turn of the century with most located near to the river bottom where soil was productive and irrigation more easily achieved.<ref name="Wells2000"/> Fruit orchards proliferated and sugar beets, still an important agricultural industry in Idaho, began to be widely cultivated in the 1890s. Cattle and sheep farming became increasingly important as the century closed. With the exception of dairy, most livestock products were exported from Idaho, unlike other agricultural products which were still largely scaled to support local markets. The timber industry also increasingly thrived in the Boise market in the 1880s and 1890s. Large quantities of timber were exported from elsewhere in Idaho, but a growing Boise supported the expansion of Alexander Rossi's sawmill, first established in 1865. Prominent early Boisean William Ridenbaugh had inherited control of the canal now bearing his name from his uncle William Morris in 1878 and later partnered with Rossi to expand the sawmill capacity under the name Rossi and Ridenbaugh Lumber Company. Their materials supported bridge building and the rapid expansion of Boise in the 1890s.<ref name="MacGregor2006" />

As with many early infrastructure ventures, electrification succeeded only after at least one false start. July 4, 1887, marked the start of electrical transmission from a plant located on the Bench. William Ridenbaugh provided expertise and manpower for the water supply and several months were spent rigging poles and lines from the Bench to the service area across the river.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1977 |title=Boise Electric Plant |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0492_Boise-Electric-Plant.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |publication-date=1977 |issue=492}}</ref> Additional electrical supplies allowed the building of an electric streetcar line in 1891. This ran without interruption until buses replaced the lines in 1927, tracking—and sometimes driving—the development of Boise and nearby communities. This system expanded over several decades, reaching into the North End, South Boise and across the river on Front St. A loop line, completed in 1912, ran as far as Caldwell and Nampa, providing transport throughout the valley. Three early trolley companies merged in 1912 to form the Idaho Traction Company with a depot at 7th and Bannock Streets downtown.<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=April 13, 2023 |title=Trolley Town |url=https://www.boisestate.edu/sps-urban/urban-resources/trolley-town/ |website=Boise State University |series=Urban Studies and Community Development}}</ref>

Additional services and urban amenities arrived in the 1890s as Boise grew. Exploratory drilling for hot water was successful in 1890 and by the end of the decade many homes along Warm Springs avenue were being heated by this source.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1977 |title=Boise Natural Hot Water Heating System |url=https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/0500_Boise-Natural-Hot-Water-Heating-System.pdf |journal=Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series |publisher=Idaho State Historical Society |publication-place=Boise, Idaho |issue=500}}</ref> A natatorium was built in 1892 close to the source of the hot water near the Idaho State Penitentiary. Churches serving several denominations, a Jewish synagogue, a major hardware store and department store, a Masonic hall, the Columbia Theater, Saint Alphonsus' Hospital, a number of parochial and secular schools, a City Hall and a new Union Pacific passenger station, constructed when service was finally extended to downtown, were all built during the 1890s. Falk's Department Store sponsored a semi-professional baseball team representing Boise from at least 1892 and the city supported other organized sports as they became popular.<ref name="Wells2000" /> The 12th Census of the United States lists the population of Boise in 1900 as 5,957, up from 2,311 in 1890, when Idaho was admitted as the 43rd state.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 28, 1900 |title=Population of Idaho by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1900/bulletins/demographic/18-population-id.pdf |access-date=April 13, 2023 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |place=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>