Local names & how they came to be
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Have you ever wondered how our cities, streets, and neighborhoods got their names? Today's story dives into the history behind how some familiar local places got their names. It was written by Amanda Patchin. You can listen to me read it here. Real quick before we get into it... Local names & how they came to beby Amanda Patchin Every community has their own pile of idiosyncratic names. Founders’ names, founders’ wives’ names, names for geographic features, etc. Perhaps unsurprisingly, throughout a region many road, town, or other place names will be repeated because they are common to the area, or because they are generic enough to apply widely. Lots of towns have a “Broadway” and almost all towns have a “Main Street” while numbered streets are ubiquitous (and we all agree that Nampa overdid it with those). Today’s story includes some of our more unique local names and the stories, however small, behind them. I have made no attempt to be comprehensive, but just to collect some small portion of local lore to enrich our sense of place. The little stories we can tell about the naming of places are the surviving fragments of people’s lives. Local Town NamesFirst are our local town names. I think nearly everyone has heard the legend of Boise’s name. In fact, in this newsletter it has been recounted at least twice. From a previous story about Boise’s trees: “Once upon a time, French fur trappers supposedly looked out over the Treasure Valley from Bonneville Point and excitedly exclaimed, “See the Trees!” After many miles of high desert, legend says they were delighted by the sylvan beauty of the Boise River flood plain. Unfortunately, in French “the trees” is “des arbres” and, as much as I would like to live in a city named Arbie, the legendary trappers must have been saying “See the woods” or “See the wooded place” or “Voir la place boisée.”” Meridian was originally called “Hunter” but, according to Wikipedia, was renamed for “the Boise meridian [which] is one of the 35 principal meridians of the Public Land Survey System of the United States.” Because this meridian governs all of the land surveys in Idaho, it is a rather important, if not very exciting imaginary line. A meridian is, of course, a line of longitude, which is an imaginary line connecting all points that are the exact same east-west position on the globe. Hipparchus was the first to develop the concept in the 2nd century BC. He used the variable times of lunar eclipses to calculate the size of the globe, which he divided into 360 degrees, just as we do today. While lines of longitude (and latitude) are used for all mapping and global positioning, they are also how we estimate time zones. Because the globe is divided into 360 degrees and a day is 24 hours, each time zone is 15 degrees of longitude which at Boise’s latitude is a little less than 600 miles. However, given the wonkiness of time zones, the mountain time zone is actually about 800 miles across. Just to the west of Meridian and just over the county line lies Nampa. According to Lalia Boone’s Idaho Place Names, Nampa was originally called “New Jerusalem,” however, that later changed to Nampa after a Shoshone man named Namp-Puh. “New Jerusalem” is one of many absurdly hopeful and aspirational names given to new settlements throughout the West, like “Bountiful” or “Paradise” in Utah and “Sublimity” in Oregon. According to the Nampa City website the name means “moccasin” or “footprint.” But according to Lalia Boone the literal translation is “Foot-Big.” I know which translation I prefer. Caldwell was named for a Kansas senator who owned and platted the property that became the Canyon County seat. Of course, Caldwell was not its original designation. Back when it was a construction camp it was called “Bugtown,” an unflattering nickname presumably based on the flies attracted to its trash heaps and sewer ditches. The Oregon Short Line Railroad preferred Caldwell because the grade into Boise was considered too steep. Much like the rest of the area, the driving force behind settlement was the gold discovered here. Bogus BasinGold and silver mines are a big part of Idaho history, but it was the lack of gold that gave Bogus Basin its name. K.P. Plowman headed up a group of prospectors that believed the mountain had plenty of precious metals. Unfortunately, all they found was fool’s gold. Pyrite does have some limited uses but it is no substitute for gold and so the creek that drained the mountain basin was dubbed Bogus Creek for the “bogus” gold claims and then the mountain took the name as well. Plowman and his fellow miners may have been tricked into purchasing gold claims by so-called “spelterers” who would take small amounts of gold dust and salt creek beds with it to trick others into paying for claims on useless land. Bogus Basin may not have worked out as a gold claim, but it is a great little ski resort within easy distance of downtown Boise. Bogus is one of only a handful of non-profit ski resorts left in the U.S. and between winter and spring skiing and summer mountain biking it is a popular place to go and a nice way to enjoy Idaho’s mountains with a simple day trip. In college I would often drive up for a few ski runs on a Tuesday morning before my afternoon classes at BSU and I know I’m not the only one grateful for a convenient winter outlet. OwyheeOwyhee is not properly a Boise name although it is a southwest Idaho name. Owyhee is the name of our second largest county (behind Idaho) and the name of a river that flows through the high desert to the south of the city. It is also the name of an elementary school, a canyon, and probably lots of other things in the area. Owyhee comes from the older spelling of “Hawaii” and the Owyhee river was named for three native Hawaiians that worked as trappers and got lost in our southern desert. Owyhee county is extremely sparsely populated, which makes sense given its aridity, remoteness, and severe weather. Unfortunately, by sharing this little fact I have guaranteed that any Hawaiians who move to Boise, will have this repeated to them ad nauseum. Street NamesGrove Street runs right through downtown Boise and so it might seem like a fanciful name for a concrete-covered slice of urban territory. However, it was originally a grove of trees, planted and maintained by Lafayette Cartee in the late 1800s. Grove Street was canal lined and shady and was actually the first luxury neighborhood in Boise until Warm Springs and Harrison Boulevard took over that responsibility. You can read more about Grove Street’s history on the big art installation at the corner of Grove and 9th streets. The big circles are meant to represent the historical changes of the area and each of the three circles includes inscriptions about and old photographs of the area. Warm Springs, obviously, got its name from the abundant geo-thermal springs in the area and for the fact that the historic homes on the avenue and in the neighborhood are heated with the water from them. And it’s not just the gracious mansions on Warm Springs Avenue that take advantage of this natural resource. The City of Boise actually has the nation’s largest geothermal heat system. According to the City of Boise Website, the twenty miles of pipeline under downtown heats six million square feet at JUMP, some of BSU, City Hall and other buildings. It is remarkable that such a useful, adaptable, and renewable resource lies just beneath our ground and has been recognized and used so long and so well. Ok that’s eight of our local names! Do you have a street, city, or place name in mind that you are curious about? Reply to this email and let us know. We'll be back with a part two! Thanks for reading! With love from Boise, Marissa
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From Boise
Every Tuesday, read a story about a person, place, piece of Boise history, or local happening. Every Thursday, get a huge list of things to do over the weekend. No news, no politics - just the fun stuff.