9 Vintage Scenes of Boise From the 1900-1960s and What They Look Like Today
In the late 1860s, the gold and silver rush reached what would eventually become the city we call home today.
Many of us remember trying to get to Fort Boise without dying of dysentery while playing the classic Oregon Trail video game. Based on the date that you started your journey in the game, the Fort Boise in the video game was the first Fort Boise established in 1834. It was actually closer to present-day Parma, than present-day Boise. The second Fort Boise was built in 1863 and was meant to protect settlers from local Native American tribes and the amount of gold and silver coming from the mountains.
A year later, Boise would become an incorporated city and the capital of the territory of Idaho. It had a population of just 1,658 people back then and was smaller than Idaho City and Placerville.
Today? Well, Boise is the largest city in Idaho and one of the fastest-growing cities in the entire country. The latest American Community Survey estimates from the United States Census Bureau put Boise's population at 231,537.
With growth comes change and new construction, but what's kind of cool is the fact that when you see vintage photos of Boise dating back as early as the 1900s you can still say "I know exactly where that is!" We found eight of those very cool photos on postcards for sale on eBay and compared those to recent photos of Boise.
Step back into our time machine and take a look back at what Boise looked like in the 1900s, '40 and '50s! Many of these buildings and places are still standing today.