Idaho City

History

Idaho City was founded in December 1862 as “Bannock” (sometimes given as “West Bannock”), amidst the Boise Basin gold rush during the Civil War, the largest since the California gold rush a dozen years earlier. Near the confluence of Elk and Mores Creeks, its plentiful water supply allowed it to outgrow the other nearby camps in the basin, such as Placerville, Pioneerville, and Centerville. As its population swelled, the new Idaho Territorial legislature changed the town's name to “Idaho City,” to avoid confusion with Bannack, in present-day Beaverhead County, the southwestern corner of Montana. At its peak during the mid-1860s, there were more than 200 businesses in town, including three dozen saloons and two dozen law offices. Its 1864 population of 7,000 made it the largest city in the Northwest, bigger than Portland. Wood was the prime source of both shelter and heat, which caused Idaho City to burn four times: 1865, 1867, 1868, and 1871. Five businesses on Main Street burned again in the early hours of June 5, 2015. In 1863, St. Joseph's Catholic Church was established; it was the first Catholic parish in the new Idaho Territory and the church was completed the following year. Outside of town, the mining tailings of the era are ubiquitous. In his fourth term as a U.S. Senator, Frank Church announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president from the porch of the county courthouse in Idaho City in March 1976. His grandfather had settled there in 1871 and his father was born there in 1889. Chase Clark, Church's father-in-law, had announced his candidacy for governor in Idaho City in 1940. The store of Pon Yam, a prominent Chinese businessman Pon Yam House from 1867 is one of the only remaining buildings from Idaho City's Chinese. Although today…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Idaho City experiences a fairly typical Inland Northwest continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen Dsb) with cold, snowy winters and warm, dry summers, typified throughout by large diurnal temperature variations. The town averages 224.3 nights below per year – as many as Fairbanks, Alaska, and 100 more than nearby Boise – 25.6 days which fail to top freezing, and 12 nights that fall below . Owing to its more exposed location and slightly higher altitude, it is not only noticeably cooler but also much wetter than Boise, receiving twice as much precipitation and almost four times as much snowfall, which averages with a maximum daily snow depth of in February 1949.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  553
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  458
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  438
• Yellow Warbler

  Setophaga petechia (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  359
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  326
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  319
• Chipping Sparrow

  Spizella passerina (Bechstein, 1798) · Aves
  315
• Pine Siskin

  Spinus pinus (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  312

Largest nearby schools

• BASIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · IDAHO CITY · 181 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• IDAHO CITY HIGH SCHOOL
  High · IDAHO CITY · 155 students · 12.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.2 — 2026-09-12
  23 km NW of Stanley, Idaho
• M 3.3 — 2026-09-06
  23 km NW of Stanley, Idaho
• M 2.9 — 2026-09-05
  4 km NNE of Stanley, Idaho
• M 2.8 — 2026-08-12
  23 km WNW of Stanley, Idaho
• M 2.7 — 2026-06-27
  8 km N of Stanley, Idaho
• M 2.9 — 2026-06-21
  30 km N of Lowman, Idaho