80 Fun Facts About Boise

By the best-known story, a French-speaking guide named Boise by shouting what at the sight of the river valley?

"Les bois! Les bois!" is the tale told of Capt. Bonneville's party at what is now Bonneville Point on the Oregon Trail; an alternative version credits French Canadian trappers who called it "la rivière boisée", the wooded river.

How do most longtime Boise residents pronounce the city's name?

The pronunciation works as a shibboleth: outsiders tend to say BOY-zee, and in French it is simply Bwaz.

Boise is the county seat of which Idaho county?

Confusingly, Boise County lies to the northeast around Idaho City; the capital sits in Ada County, the state's most populous.

Which city was briefly Idaho's territorial capital before Boise took over in 1864?

The move followed the population shift south after gold strikes; the decision was so contested that it went to the territorial supreme court.

What is Boise's long-standing arboreal nickname?

The name took root in the 1860s and 1870s when early settlers planted orchards and downtown hotels led tree-planting drives in a high-desert valley.

Which Native peoples wintered in the Boise valley and fished its salmon runs before white settlement?

In April 1869 the U.S. Army forcibly removed them to the Fort Hall reservation, a march remembered as Idaho's Trail of Tears.

The Idaho State Capitol is the only U.S. statehouse heated by what?

The hot water is pumped from about 3,000 feet underground; the same resource has warmed homes on Warm Springs Avenue since the 1890s.

The Idaho State Capitol's sandstone was quarried from which landmark just southeast of downtown Boise?

The same quarry supplied stone for the Old Idaho Penitentiary, cut by the convicts themselves.

The Winged Victory statue in the Idaho State Capitol was a gift to the US from which country?

The plaster replica of the Nike of Samothrace arrived in 1949 as thanks for the liberation of France in World War II.

Looking up into the Idaho Capitol dome, visitors count 13 large stars and how many smaller ones?

The 43 small stars mark Idaho's admission as the 43rd state on July 3, 1890, one day before Independence Day.

Which company built the Boise Depot, the 1925 train station looking down Capitol Boulevard?

The last passenger train to call there was Amtrak's Pioneer, discontinued in 1997.

The Boise River Greenbelt begins in the east at which dam?

From there the trail runs more than 20 miles west to Eagle, and over 30 miles counting both banks and spurs.

The 1971 Greenbelt Ordinance required structures and parking to be set back at least how far from the river?

The idea came from Boise's first comprehensive plan in 1962, and the first three parcels were donated in 1967.

The white DOTS painted on the Greenbelt to mark distance from downtown are spaced how far apart?

Mile zero is near 8th and River Streets; a dot reading SE 5.3 puts you 5.3 miles east on the south bank.

Which vehicles are permitted on the Boise Greenbelt only with a special city permit?

Motorized vehicles are otherwise banned, and one stretch through Garden City's Riverside Village even bars bicycles.

Treefort Music Fest debuted in Boise in what year?

The inaugural lineup included Built to Spill and The Joy Formidable; the local promoter Duck Club still runs it each March.

Which Treefort spin-off did President Obama praise during his 2015 visit to Boise?

The tech-focused offshoot later partnered with the Idaho Department of Labor; other forts include Dragfort, Kidfort and Podfort.

Treefort's late-March timing was partly inspired by bands heading home to the Northwest from which festival?

It also lines up with the start of spring break for many Idaho schools; proceeds benefit community station Radio Boise.

In 1967 J. R. Simplot sealed a handshake deal to supply frozen french fries to which chain?

By 1972 all the chain's fries were frozen, and by 2005 Simplot supplied more than half of them.

Which Boise chipmaker received startup capital from J. R. Simplot's potato fortune in the early 1980s?

By 1994 Simplot owned a 20 percent stake; the company remains the only major American maker of computer memory.

J. R. Simplot first made money feeding hogs a low-cost diet of potatoes and what?

He sold the hogs at a profit when the market recovered and went into potato processing; he died in 2008 at 99 as the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400.

Bogus Basin, Boise's ski area, likely owes its name to 19th-century swindlers who did what?

"Spelterers" heated lead filings with a pinch of real gold; the ski area itself opened in December 1942 with a rope tow.

What is dropped in Boise's Grove Plaza to ring in the New Year?

The Idaho Potato Drop is run by the Idaho New Year's Commission outside the Boise Centre convention hall.

In what year did Boise State first play on its blue turf?

The debut was a 74–0 rout of Humboldt State; the school was still in the Big Sky Conference at the time.

Who came up with the idea of installing blue turf at Boise State?

His reasoning: if the school was spending $750,000 on a new field, it should not be yet another green one. Players call it simply "The Blue."

What is the best-known nickname for Boise State's blue field?

ESPN's Chris Berman prefers "The Blue Plastic Tundra", a nod to Lambeau Field's frozen tundra.

In 2011 which league banned any non-green playing surface, dubbing it the "Boise Rule"?

A persistent myth says the NCAA grandfathered Boise's field, but the NCAA has never restricted turf colour at all.

Which La Liga club played a 2015 friendly on real grass laid over Boise State's blue turf?

The Basque Soccer Friendly drew 21,948 to watch the club beat Club Tijuana 2–0, the first green surface in the stadium since 1985.

Boise State's football home went by what name for its first 44 seasons before a 2014 naming-rights deal?

A grocery chain founded in Boise bought the naming rights; the playing field itself is still Lyle Smith Field.

Which team did Boise State stun in the Fiesta Bowl to cap its undefeated 2006 season?

The Broncos returned to the Fiesta Bowl three seasons later and beat TCU to finish 14–0.

Which Boise State quarterback went 50–3 as a starter to become the winningest QB in FBS history?

He passed Texas's Colt McCoy, and the national Quarterback of the Year award was later renamed in his honour.

Boise State University was founded in 1932 by which organisation?

It became an independent junior college two years later and only became a public institution in 1969.

Before Boise State moved onto its present riverside campus in 1940, what occupied the site?

Booth Field hosted the first commercial airmail flight in the United States in 1926, flown by Varney Air Lines.

Which airline, founded in Boise as Varney Air Lines in 1926, is Boise Airport's longest-serving carrier?

The original airmail contract ran from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada, with Boise stops in each direction.

Which aircraft did the Idaho ANG's 124th Fighter Wing fly from Gowen Field in 2024?

The wing converted to the A-10 in 1996; Boise's airport also hosts the National Interagency Fire Center's air operations during wildfire season.

Boise's large Basque festival, Jaialdi, is held how often?

The next edition is due in 2030; Idaho's Basque community, one of the largest in the U.S., numbered nearly 7,000 in 2000.

Boise's sister city in Spain's Basque Country is which town, famous as the subject of a Picasso painting?

The two have been sister cities since 1990; Boise's other twin is Syracuse, New York.

Boiseko Ikastola in Boise is the only institution of its kind outside its European homeland. What is it?

Downtown's Basque Block also holds the Basque Museum and Cultural Center; the city is a sister region of the Basque communities.

Which former Boise mayor is of Basque descent and speaks the language fluently?

Idaho's Basque roots run to statehood in 1890, when the first immigrants arrived to mine silver and raise sheep.

Basques were first drawn to Idaho in the 19th century by the discovery of which metal?

Those who did not mine took up ranching and sold beef and lamb to the miners at camps such as Silver City.

Boise's memorial next to its main library is the only U.S. memorial dedicated to whom?

It grows a sapling of the tree she wrote about, and displays the full Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Boise's Egyptian Theatre, the oldest theatre in the city, was inspired by which then-recent discovery?

It has since hosted premieres of all three Bourne films, and Aaron Paul once rented it to live-stream an episode of Breaking Bad.

Dennis, the only "inmate" buried inside the walls of the Old Idaho Penitentiary, was what?

Found as a kitten in the prison barn in 1952, he lived there sixteen years and got a headstone from the inmates.

What nickname did Lyda Southard, held at the Old Idaho Penitentiary, earn for killing husbands for insurance money?

Another famous inmate, Harry Orchard, assassinated former Governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905.

The Old Idaho Penitentiary closed in what year, after 101 years of operation?

Riots over living conditions in 1971 and 1973 burned several buildings; the 416 remaining inmates moved to a new prison south of the city.

Thomas Davis deeded 40 acres to Boise in 1907 for a park named after whom?

The deed says the land reverts to his heirs if it is ever used for anything but a public park; Zoo Boise and the Boise Art Museum now sit there.

Which bird's 1999 US delisting was celebrated in Boise, home of the World Center for Birds of Prey?

The World Center for Birds of Prey, on a hilltop south of the airport, still breeds condors and the Aplomado falcon.

Boise's minor-league hockey team, the Idaho Steelheads, is named after which fish?

The ECHL club has been an affiliate of the Dallas Stars since 2005–06 and plays at Idaho Central Arena downtown.

Which legend's visit drew 7,100-plus fans to the Boise Hawks' 1987 debut in Spokane?

The Hawks arrived from Richland, Washington, and joined the independent Pioneer League in 2021, playing at Memorial Stadium.

Boise resident Kristin Armstrong won three straight Olympic gold medals (2008–2016) in which event?

She was a triathlete until osteoarthritis in both hips ended her running career at 27; a Boise riverside park now bears her name.

Which Pulitzer Prize-winning novel did Anthony Doerr spend a decade writing in his downtown Boise office?

It won the 2015 Pulitzer for Fiction, making Doerr the first Idahoan to do so.

Which indie rock band, centred on guitarist Doug Martsch, formed in Boise in 1992?

Martsch planned a new lineup for every album; three of their 1990s records made Pitchfork's top 50 albums of the decade.

Which cult filmmaker set the final scene of his 1972 film Pink Flamingos in Boise?

Boise also shaped David Lynch, who spent much of his childhood there.

Boise-based Morrison–Knudsen was part of the consortium that built which landmark in the 1930s?

The founders met in 1905 digging Boise's New York Canal; the firm later built Minuteman silos and NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Which grocery giant opened its first store in Boise on July 21, 1939?

The store advertised free parking, a money-back guarantee and an ice cream shop; a brick monument marks the site at 16th and State.

Boise's climate is officially classed as which type?

Summers hit 100°F about nine days a year, but the dry air makes daily temperature swings of more than 30°F.

Downtown Boise sits at roughly what elevation above sea level?

The Boise Bench neighbourhood rises about 60 feet higher, an ancient shoreline of the old river channel.

Boise's population at the 2020 census was closest to which figure?

The five-county metro area, in the Treasure Valley, holds around 846,000 people and Forbes named Boise America's fastest-growing city in 2018.

Boise's 1896 Ahavath Beth Israel building holds what distinction?

The congregation's early leader Moses Alexander went on to be mayor of Boise and governor of Idaho.

Which international sporting event did Boise host in 2009, drawing 2,500 athletes from over 85 countries?

Nearby Bogus Basin, 16 miles from the city limits, provided some of the snow venues.

Boise's electric streetcar system, launched in 1891, ran until buses replaced it in what year?

A 1912 loop line reached as far as Nampa and Caldwell; a downtown streetcar has been proposed again as recently as 2017.

In 2014 Boise's police became the first in the Northwest to partner with which neighbourhood app?

The city was the 137th in the U.S. to sign on, letting police, fire and parks departments post to specific neighbourhoods.

The Idaho Shakespeare Festival shares its repertory company with a theatre in which city?

The 770-seat outdoor amphitheatre sits in a habitat reserve along the Boise River, and the cast also plays Lake Tahoe.

Frank Church, the Boise-born senator, gave his name to which kind of Idaho landmark?

The Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, at 2.36 million acres, is the largest outside Alaska.

What honour did the American Planning Association give Boise's tree-lined North End in 2008?

The district north of State Street is known for Harrison Boulevard's tree canopy and the Hyde Park Street Fair.

The Boise River is a tributary of which larger river?

It runs 102 miles from the Sawtooth Range and enters the Snake at the Oregon border west of Parma.

What did Forbes name Boise in a 2018 article?

After the pandemic it was still the fifth-fastest-growing US city in 2022 and 2023.

Which interstate highway links Boise with Portland, Oregon, and Salt Lake City, Utah?

Highway 55 branches off to the northeast, and a bus network run by Valley Regional Transit serves the city itself.

By what local nickname is the five-mile Interstate 184 spur into downtown Boise known?

It runs from I-84 into the city centre, where Main Street Station serves as an underground bus hub.

Idaho's largest giant sequoia, now in Fort Boise Park, grew from a seedling given by whom?

It stood at St. Luke's Medical Center until 2017, when it was moved over four days.

In which year did Boise's Union Pacific Depot stop serving passengers?

Amtrak's Seattle–Chicago service had called there since 1977; a short-line railroad still serves local industries.

Zoo Boise is located inside which of the city's green spaces?

The zoo keeps more than 200 animals of over 80 species and opened its Red Panda Passage exhibit in May 2025.

One account credits which US Army captain's exploration party with giving Boise its name?

The overlook where his party first saw the green river valley is still called Bonneville Point, on the Oregon Trail east of the city.

Which Amtrak train stopped at Boise from 1977 until it was discontinued in 1997?

It ran between Seattle and Chicago, leaving Boise without passenger rail service after May 1997.

Through 2024, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl paired the Mountain West with which conference?

Played in late December, the game was formerly known as the Humanitarian Bowl and the MPC Computers Bowl.

Which spring music event in Boise is named for a pianist linked to the city?

Boise is a regional hub for jazz, theatre and indie music, with groups from ComedySportz to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

In which year did the Bogus Basin ski area open?

It sits 16 miles from the city limits up a twisting road that climbs 3,400 vertical feet through sagebrush and forest.

On 4 July of which year did electrical transmission begin in Boise from a plant on the Bench?

William Ridenbaugh supplied the expertise, and geothermal heating of Warm Springs Avenue homes followed in the 1890s.

The Hudson's Bay Company's Old Fort Boise stood 40 miles west of the city near which town?

It sat near the Boise River's confluence with the Snake at the Oregon border, and passed to the US Army after 1844.

What population did a special 1864 territorial census record for Boise?

Voters rejected the first attempt at incorporation the following March, and a city charter was not approved until 1868.