Grace is a city in Caribou County,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The population was 920 at the 2020 census.

History

The area of Grace was once inhabited by the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

Indians. The

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

passed within of Grace and the town itself was established with a post office in 1894. Unlike other nearby historic towns such as

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

, Grace was not originally settled by

Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who Human migration, migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the ...

, but has since become a predominantly

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

-populated town. The economy in and around Grace has traditionally been driven by agriculture, with

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

and

ranching A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...

being the main staples.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Grace is one of the northernmost cities along the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

which extends approximately south, and is only west of the large fault line that defines the range. Grace is located near the center of

Gem Valley Gem Valley is a rural valley in Caribou County, Bannock, and Franklin counties in Idaho, United States, so named for its local gemstones which can be found throughout the valley. It is approximately wide at its widest point east to west, and ...

. In stark contrast to the surrounding mountains, the valley floor in the immediate area of Grace is flat due to volcanic activity in the area some 30,000 years ago. The lava flow that created the valley also diverted the Bear River from its Pacific drainage into the Great Basin. This was a significant contributor to the growth of the prehistoric

Lake Bonneville Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperatur ...

of which the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, partic ...

is a remnant. Lake Bonneville reached its farthest north advance about four miles (6 km) southwest of Grace before it broke through the earthen barrier at Red Rock pass north of Preston, Idaho. The Bear River today runs to the north and west of Grace and terminates in the Great Salt Lake. Grace's neighboring towns are Soda Springs to the north east, Bancroft to the north west, and Preston to the south. It is about from Lava Hot Springs, which is a local tourism and recreation destination. The nearest city with a major airport is

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, which is approximately south.

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winter. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Grace has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate summary for Grace, Idaho
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Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 915 people, 366 households, and 266 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 400 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.5% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4.2% of the population. There were 366 households, of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 27.3% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age in the city was 38.9 years. 26.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.3% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 18.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 52.3% male and 47.7% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 990 people, 364 households, and 274 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 389 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.56%

, 0.20% Native American, 3.33% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 4.95% of the population. There were 364 households, out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.3% were

living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.21. In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.4% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $32,303, and the median income for a family was $39,306. Males had a median income of $33,214 versus $14,306 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $13,452. About 5.7% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Grace is hosts the Caribou County Fair and Rodeo.

Education

There are 3

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

: Black Canyon Elementary School, Grace Junior High School, and

Grace High School Grace High School is the public secondary school in Grace, Idaho, southeast of Pocatello. It serves grades 7-12 for the Grace Joint School District. Academics In the 2022-23 '' US News and World Report'' annual survey of US public high schoo ...

; they are all under the oversight of Grace School District #148.

Notable people

* Kerry Christensen - yodeler. * Marc Gibbs - Former member of the Idaho House of Representatives; lives in Grace. * Phil Johnson - basketball player, college and NBA coach. * Junior Van Noy - Medal of Honor recipient.

References

External links

Grace Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in Caribou County, Idaho