Idaho Falls

 

city (1990 pop. 43,929), seat of Bonneville co., SE Idaho, traversed by the Snake River; inc. 1900. The chief city of the extensively irrigated upper Snake valley, Idaho Falls is the prosperous commercial and processing center of a cattle, dairy, and farm region that produces potatoes, wheat, sugar beets, and alfalfa. Building materials, food products, leather goods, and electronic equipment are manufactured, and tourism is important (the city lies near several national parks and major recreational areas). Nearby Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, a national reactor testing station, is also a principal source of employment. Idaho Falls was originally a miner's fording point over the Snake River, first settled by Mormons. The impressive Idaho Falls Mormon Temple (opened 1945) is a prominent landmark. Several annual rodeos are held in Idaho Falls.

City of Idaho Falls
Seal
Coordinates: 43°29′30″N 112°1′57″W / 43.49167, -112.0325
Country	United States
State	Idaho
County	Bonneville
Founded	1864
Incorporated	1891
Government
- Mayor	Jared Fuhriman
Area
- City	sq mi (km²)
- Land	sq mi ( km²)
- Water	sq mi ( km²)
Elevation	ft ( m)
Population (2006)
- City
- Density	/sq mi (/km²)
- Metro
Time zone	Mountain (UTC-7)
- Summer (DST)	Mountain (UTC-6)
Area code(s)	208
FIPS code	16-39700
GNIS feature ID	0396684
Website: www.ci.idaho-falls.id.us

Idaho Falls is the county seat and largest city of Bonneville County, Idaho, United States.⁶ As of the 2000 Census the population of Idaho Falls was 50,730, with a metro population of 116,980. (2006 estimate: 52,786)^[1].

Idaho Falls routinely switches places with Pocatello as the third/fourth largest city in the state and the largest city in the Eastern Idaho region. Idaho Falls is the principal city of and is included in the Idaho Falls, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Idaho Falls-Blackfoot, Idaho Combined Statistical Area.

The city is served by the Idaho Falls Regional Airport and is home to the Idaho Falls Chukars minor league baseball team. Its sister city is the town of Tokai-Mura, Japan.

Idaho Falls borders on Ammon, Idaho.

Idaho U.S. Senator Mike Crapo was born here in 1951.

History

What became Idaho Falls was the site of Taylor’s Crossing, a timber frame bridge built across the Snake River. The bridge was built by Matt Taylor, a freighter, who, in 1865, built a toll bridge across a narrow black basaltic gorge of the river that succeeded a ferry nine miles upstream by a few years.^[2] Taylor’s bridge served the new tide of westward migration and travel in the region that followed the military suppression of Shoshone resistance at the Bear River Massacre near Preston, Idaho in 1863. The bridge improved travel for settlers moving north and west and for miners, freighters, and others seeking riches in the gold fields of central Idaho and western Montana. A private bank (the 4th in Idaho), a hotel, a livery stable, and an eating house also sprang up at the bridge in 1865. By 1866, the emerging town had a stage station and mail service postmarked “Eagle Rock” as the area was already known by the name of the earlier ferry crossing upstream and to the north called Eagle Rock. The town changed its name to Eagle Rock in 1872 after the rock island in the river that was the nesting site for numerous eagles seven miles north.^[3]

There had been a few cattle and sheep ranchers in the area for years. In 1874, water rights were established on nearby Willow Creek and the first grain harvested but settlement was sparse consisting of only a couple of families and small ditches for irrigation. The first child of European decent was born at Eagle Rock in 1874 also.

The winds of change blew in the form of the Utah and Northern Railroad that came north from Utah through Eagle Rock to cross the Snake River at the same narrow gorge as the wooden bridge. The U&NR was building its road to the large copper mines at Butte, Montana with the backing of robber baron Jay Gould as Union Pacific Railroad had purchased the U&NR only a few years prior.^[4] Grading crews reached Eagle Rock in late 1878 and by early 1879 a wild camp-town with dozens of tents and shanties moved to Eagle Rock with the usual collection of saloons, dancehalls, and gambling holes. The railroad company had 16 locomotives and 300 train cars working between Logan, Utah and the once quiet stage stop. A new iron railroad bridge was fabricated in Athens, Pennsylvania at a cost of $30,000 and shipped, by rail, to the site and erected in April and May of 1879.^[5] The bridge was 800 feet long and in two spans with an island in the center. The camp-town moved on but Eagle Rock, the little town at the wooden bridge, now had regular train service and was the site for several of the railroad’s buildings, shops, and facilities expanding and completely transforming the town.

Settlers began homesteading the Upper Snake River Valley as soon as the railroad came through. The first of the new settlers carved out homesteads to the north at Egin (near present day Parker) and at Pooles Island (near present day Menan) and were almost entirely Mormon. Reports of their success reached Mormon Church officials in Utah and, in 1883, the Church organized Mormon colonization of the Upper Snake River Valley.^[6] Large scale settlement ensued and in a decade, the pious, industrious, and somewhat communal Mormons built roads, bridges, dams, and irrigation canals that brought most of the Upper Snake River Valley under cultivation. In 1887, following the construction of the Oregon Short Line, most of the railroad facilities were removed to Pocatello but Eagle Rock was fast becoming the commercial center of an agricultural empire.

In 1891, the town voted to rename itself to Idaho Falls, after the rapids that existed below the bridge. In 1895, only 12 years after the onset of Mormon colonization, the largest irrigation canal in the world, named the Great Feeder, began diverting water from the Snake River and aided in converting tens of thousands of acres of desert into green farmland in the vicinity of Idaho Falls. The area grew sugar beets, potatoes, peas, grains, and alfalfa and became one of the most productive regions of the United States.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed construction and dedicated their Idaho Falls Idaho Temple here on September 23, 1945 to serve the large Latter-day Saint population in the area.

Economy

Idaho Falls serves as a regional hub for health care, travel and business in southeast Idaho.

The community's economy was mostly agriculturally focused until the Atomic Energy Commission opened the National Reactor Testing Station in the nearby desert in 1949. The town subsequently became largely dependent on high-income jobs from "The Site", officially called the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) since 2005. The laboratory made several cutbacks in 1993. Since then the town has added call centers, a growing retail and entertainment sector, a regional medical center, and added funding for small businesses. In May of 2006, Inc. magazine ranked Idaho Falls eighth on its list of "Hottest Small Cities" in the U.S. based on the region's job growth rate over the prior 10 years. Idaho Falls was also listed #2 on MSN Real Estate's list of top ten best smaller cities in America, in terms of job prospects, quality of life and cost of living.[1]

The median home price in Idaho Falls was $224,800 in January 2007.

Idaho Falls, Idaho / U.S. avg:^{[citation needed]}

• Area population 116,980 / 647,500
• Median home price $224,800 / $235,000
• Cost-of-living index 99.8 / 100.0
• Unemployment rate 2.7% / 4.6%
• Job growth -- 5 years 18.84% / 4.90%
• Job growth -- 1 year 2.74% / 1.66%
• Median household income $47,719 / $46,326

Famous residents

• Wilson Rawls - author of the children's books Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys
• Brandi Sherwood - a model and actor who became Miss Teen USA, Miss Idaho USA, and Miss USA.
• Yo Murphy - NFL and CFL wide receiver

Geography

Idaho Falls is located at 43°29′30″N, 112°1′57″W (43.491775, -112.032509)¹, at an elevation of 4,700 feet.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 45.0 km² (17.4 mi²). 44.2 km² (17.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (1.67%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 50,730 people, 18,793 households, and 13,173 families residing in the city, though MSN real estate reports an area population of 110,220. The population density was 1,147.4/km² (2,972.2/mi²). There were 19,771 housing units at an average density of 447.2/km² (1,158.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.09% White, 0.62% African American, 0.76% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 3.81% from other races, and 1.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.18% of the population.

There were 18,793 households out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the city the population was spread out with 30.3% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,512, and the median income for a family was $47,431. Males had a median income of $39,082 versus $23,001 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,857. About 7.8% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.7% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

The top 5 ethnic groups in Idaho Falls are:[2]

• English - 22%
• German - 16%
• Irish - 7%
• Mexican - 5%
• Swedish-4%

Higher education

Idaho Falls is home to Eastern Idaho Technical College which continues to expand from its original mission as a vocational-technical college. The school proposed changing its name to "College of Eastern Idaho" in 2003 at the state legislature.

The city also has a unique campus named University Place which features dual enrollment for students in both Idaho State University and University of Idaho. The campus constructed a union building for students in 2002. Brigham Young University-Idaho, formerly Ricks College, also uses the campus for courses.^{[citation needed]}

K-12 schools

• Idaho Falls School District #91
• Bonneville Joint School District #93

Sister city

Idaho Falls has a sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

• Tōkai, Ibaraki, Japan

References

External links

• City of Idaho Falls

Coordinates: 43.491775° N 112.032509° W

Municipalities and communities of Bonneville County, Idaho
County seat: Idaho Falls
Cities	Ammon | Idaho Falls | Iona | Irwin | Ririe | Swan Valley | Ucon

	State of Idaho Boise (capital)
Topics	Culture | Geography | Government | Governors | History | Images
Regions	Boise metropolitan area | Cache Valley | Central Idaho | Columbia River Plateau | Eastern Idaho | Great Basin | Idaho Panhandle | Inland Empire | Magic Valley | North Central Idaho | North Idaho | Palouse | Southern Idaho | Southwestern Idaho | Treasure Valley | Wasatch Range | Wood River Valley | Yellowstone
Larger cities	Boise | Coeur d'Alene | Idaho Falls | Lewiston | Meridian | Nampa | Pocatello | Twin Falls
Smaller cities	Ammon | Blackfoot | Burley | Caldwell | Chubbuck | Eagle | Garden City | Kuna | Moscow | Mountain Home | Post Falls | Rexburg
Counties	Ada | Adams | Bannock | Bear Lake | Benewah | Bingham | Blaine | Boise | Bonner | Bonneville | Boundary | Butte | Camas | Canyon | Caribou | Cassia | Clark | Clearwater | Custer | Elmore | Franklin | Fremont | Gem | Gooding | Idaho | Jefferson | Jerome | Kootenai | Latah | Lemhi | Lewis | Lincoln | Madison | Minidoka | Nez Perce | Oneida | Owyhee | Payette | Power | Shoshone | Teton | Twin Falls | Valley | Washington

Donate to Wikimedia