Lowman

History

The community was named for a homesteader, Nathaniel Winfield Lowman, from Polk County, Iowa, who settled there in 1907. Lowman is notable for having a one-room school, one of only a couple hundred still in use in the United States. A devastating wildfire ravaged the area around Lowman in 1989; it destroyed over and 26 structures, but without injuries or fatalities.

Geography

from Boise on State Highway 21, the "Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway," Lowman is at the junction with the "Banks-Lowman Highway"; now designated Highway 2512A. It is the "Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway," which heads west and descends nearly with the whitewater of the South Fork to its confluence with the North Fork at Banks, the junction with State Highway 55, the "Payette River Scenic Byway." The "Highway to Heaven" trail, stretching more than from Idaho's capital of Boise, is the only mountain passage in the West that begins from a major city. The trail winds from 8th Street in Boise and climbs the Boise River, past the Lucky Peak Dam. Sagebrush gives way to gentle pine slopes leading to historic Idaho City, then over Mores Creek Summit at . The road descends over then climbs to Beaver Creek Summit () and switches back down to Lowman. The route then climbs with the South Fork of the Payette River up and over Banner Summit at to Stanley, where it meets State Highway 75, just northeast of the Sawtooths. Lowman is in a geothermally active region; natural hot springs surface in the middle of the community as well as in many other places in the surrounding mountains. Lowman has an area of ; is land, and is water

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  301
• Western Tanager

  Piranga ludoviciana (A.Wilson, 1811) · Aves
  252
• Chipping Sparrow

  Spizella passerina (Bechstein, 1798) · Aves
  232
• Cassin's Finch

  Haemorhous cassinii (S.F.Baird, 1854) · Aves
  228
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  219
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  212
• Mountain Chickadee

  Poecile gambeli (Ridgway, 1886) · Aves
  195
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  185

Largest nearby schools

• LOWMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · LOWMAN · 4 students · 4:1 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