Grant is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Jefferson 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.

Location

Grant is a rural community close to the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...

. It is west-southwest of Rigby. and north of

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls is the List of cities in Idaho, fourth most populous city in Idaho and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County. It is the state's most populous city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United St ...

History

Grant was known historically as Poverty Flat. The land was predominantly sagebrush, with wildlife trails bringing the first pioneers to the area in the late 1870s and early 1880s.''Picture History of Jefferson County'', Jefferson County Historical Museum, Rigby, ID. Visited May 8, 2015 The first settlers were members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church), second generation to those who had arrived in the Salt Lake valley in the mid-1800s. Alfred Kossuth DaBell and James Ottowell Webster established the first homesteads in Poverty Flat in 1888. They spent that initial winter with family members in the nearby town of Lewisville, then began to build their farms in the spring of 1889. The first permanent settler in Poverty Flat was Jeppe Peter Hansen, originally from Denmark, who arrived just before the DaBells and the Websters returned from Lewisville. Between 1891 and 1892, the community constructed a small building to be used as both church and school and the Grant School District was organized. The Grant Ward of the LDS Church was also established that year, named after Heber J. Grant, the 7th President of the LDS Church. The first postmaster, Frederick C. Hanson, was appointed on March 3, 1893. The post office was connected to the "Grant Store," which remained in continuous operation for over 100 years until the late 1990s. In 1900, the Grant Ward was composed of 77 families and 389 individuals. Grant's population was estimated at 200 in 1909. The community grew significantly through the early twentieth century, resulting in the construction of several new buildings and a baseball diamond. The "Grant Hall," built in 1900, became a social center for the area, with people coming from all over the Snake River valley to attend weekly dances. On July 4, 1920, a group of local cowboys and farmers held a

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

on the baseball diamond. This became an annual event that eventually moved to Rigby, Idaho, where it is still held every year on

Flag Day A flag day is a flag-related holiday, a day designated for flying a certain flag (such as a national flag) or a day set aside to celebrate a historical event such as a nation's adoption of its flag. Flag days are usually codified in national s ...

and is known as the Jefferson County Stampede.

References

External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Jefferson County, Idaho Unincorporated communities in Idaho