Idaho Falls (
Shoshoni
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, east ...
: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of
Bonneville County
Bonneville County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 123,964, making it the fourth-most populous county in Idaho and the most populous in eastern Idaho. Its county seat and larg ...
,
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is the state's largest city outside the
Boise metropolitan area.
As of the
2020 census, the population of Idaho Falls was 64,818.
[2020 Census, US Census Bureau, Idaho Falls, Idaho Profile] In the
2010 census, the population of Idaho Falls was 56,813 (2019 estimate: 62,888), with a metro population of 133,265.
Idaho Falls serves as the commercial, cultural, and healthcare hub for
Eastern Idaho
Eastern Idaho is the area of Idaho lying east of the Magic Valley region. It is generally understood to include: Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Caribou, Clark, Custer, Franklin, Fremont, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, Power an ...
, as well as parts of western Wyoming and southern Montana. It is served by the
Idaho Falls Regional Airport
Idaho Falls Regional Airport is two miles north-northwest of downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States. It is locally known as Fanning Field. It is the second-busiest airport in Idaho after Boise Airport.
The National Plan of Integrated Air ...
and is home to the
College of Eastern Idaho
College of Eastern Idaho is a public community college in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It was founded in 1969 as Eastern Idaho Vocational Technical School and later became a technical college called Eastern Idaho Technical College. In May 2017, Bonnevill ...
,
Museum of Idaho
The Museum of Idaho (MOI) is a history and science museum in downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho. The museum features exhibits, collections, and programs focused on the social and environmental history of Idaho and the Intermountain West, as well as prom ...
, and the
Idaho Falls Chukars
The Idaho Falls Chukars are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and play their home games at Melaleuca ...
minor league baseball team. It is the principal city of the Idaho Falls
Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...
and the Idaho Falls–Blackfoot-Rexburg, Idaho
Combined Statistical Area
Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...
.
History
Montana Trail origins
The area around Idaho Falls was first sparsely settled by
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
and
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/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 a farm. These terms are most ofte ...
ers. No significant development took place until 1864, when a man named Harry Rickets built and operated a
ferry on the
Snake River at . The ferry served a new tide of westward migration and
travel
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
on the
Montana Trail The Montana Trail was a wagon road that served gold rush towns such as Bannack, Virginia City and later Helena during the Montana gold rush era of the 1860s and 1870s. Miners and settlers all traveled the trail to try to find better lives in Montan ...
following the
Bear River Massacre
The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, or the Battle of Bear River, or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho, on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranc ...
of
Shoshone Indians in 1863.
[MD Beal, A History of Southeastern Idaho, 1942, p. 218.]
The present-day site of Idaho Falls became a permanent settlement when freighter
Matt Taylor built a timber-frame
toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...
across a narrow black
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
ic gorge of the river downstream from the ferry. The bridge improved travel for settlers moving north and west, and for
miners, freighters, and others seeking riches in the
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
fields of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
and
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
—especially the
boom towns of
Bannack
Bannack is a ghost town in Beaverhead County, Montana, Beaverhead County, Montana, United States, located on Grasshopper Creek, approximately upstream from where Grasshopper Creek joins with the Beaverhead River south of Dillon, Montana, Dillon. ...
and
Virginia City
Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Virginia City developed as a boom ...
.
Eagle Rock
By the end of 1865, a private
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
, small
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
,
livery stable, eating house,
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
, and
stage station
A stage station or relay station, also known as a staging post, a posting station, or a stage stop, is a place where exhausted horses could be replaced by fresh animals, since a long journey was much faster without delays when horses needed rest ...
had sprung up near the bridge. The settlement was initially known as Taylor's Crossing, but
postmark
A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit ...
s indicate that by 1866, the emerging town had become known as Eagle Rock. The name was derived from an isolated
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
island in the river near the ferry, where approximately twenty
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
s nested.
In 1874,
water rights
Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentiou ...
were established on nearby
Willow Creek and the first
grain was harvested. Settlement was sparse, and consisted of only a couple of families and small
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
ditches. The first child of
European descent was born at Eagle Rock in 1874.
Soon, the
Utah and Northern Railway
The Utah & Northern Railway is a defunct railroad that was operated in the Utah Territory and later in the Idaho Territory and Montana Territory in the western United States during the 1870s and 1880s. It was the first railroad in Idaho and in M ...
(U&NR) was built, stretching north from
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
through Eagle Rock and crossing the Snake River at the same narrow gorge as Taylor's bridge. The railway would eventually connect to the large new
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
mines at
Butte, Montana. The U&NR had the backing of
robber baron Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...
, as
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
had purchased it a few years prior. Grading crews reached Eagle Rock in late 1878, and by early 1879, a wild camp-town with dozens of
tents and shanties had moved to Eagle Rock with a collection of saloons,
dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub. The majority of towns and cities in ...
s, and
gambling halls. The railroad company had 16
locomotives and 300
train cars working between
Logan, Utah and the once-quiet stage stop. A new iron railroad bridge was fabricated in
Athens, Pennsylvania at a cost of $30,000 and shipped by rail to the site, where it was erected in April and May 1879. The bridge was long and had two spans, with an island in the center. The camp-town moved on, but Eagle Rock now had regular train service and several U&NR
building
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...
s, shops, and facilities which expanded and transformed the town.
As soon as the railroad came through,
settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer.
Settl ...
s began
homesteading the upper
Snake River Valley in earnest. The first new settlers carved out homesteads to the north at Egin (near present-day
Parker) and at Pooles Island (near present-day
Menan). The Utah & Northern Railway provided easy access, especially to homesteaders from Utah, who soon populated much of the area surrounding Eagle Rock. Some of these men had initially worked building the railroad, then later returned with their families to stake out new farms. These Utah families brought irrigation know-how developed in Utah's
Great Basin settlements. Through their and others' canal systems, water from the Snake River made the Upper Snake River Valley into one of the most successful irrigation projects in the
Mountain West. Large-scale settlement ensued and within a decade, there appeared
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
s,
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
s, and
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
s, which brought most of the Upper Snake River Valley under
cultivation.
Then, in 1887, following the construction of the
Oregon Short Line
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific int ...
and a railroad workers'
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
in Eagle Rock, most of the railroad facilities were moved to
Pocatello
Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...
, where the new line branched off the U&NR. This caused a sharp and immediate drop in population, which nearly killed the town. In 1891,
marketers
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...
convinced town leaders to change the name to Idaho Falls in reference to the
rapids below the bridge. Some years later, the construction of a retaining wall for a
hydroelectric power plant
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
transformed the rapids into
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...
s. On June 22, 1895, the world's then-largest
irrigation canal
An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonization of America, Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day A ...
, the Great Feeder (located 5 miles northeast of Ririe), began diverting water from the Snake River, helping to convert tens of thousands of more acres of desert into green farmland. The area grew
sugar beets,
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es,
pea
The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...
s,
grains, and
alfalfa, and became one of the most productive agricultural regions of the United States. The city once again began to flourish, growing continuously into the 20th century.
Nuclear reactors
![Idaho National Lab CAES](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Idaho_National_Lab_CAES.jpg)
In 1949, the
Atomic Energy Commission opened the
National Reactor Testing Station
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. While the laboratory does other research, historically it has been involved with nu ...
(NRTS) in the desert west of Idaho Falls. On December 20, 1951, a
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
there produced useful
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...
for the first time in history. There have been more than 50 unique reactors built at the facility for testing—only three remain active.
On January 3, 1961, NRTS became the scene of the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in U.S. history. The event occurred at an experimental
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
plant known as the Argonne Low-Power Reactor, which the Army called the
Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One (SL-1). Due to poor design and maintenance procedures, a single control rod was manually pulled out too far from the reactor, causing the reactor to become
prompt critical
In nuclear engineering, prompt criticality describes a nuclear fission event in which criticality (the threshold for an exponentially growing nuclear fission chain reaction) is achieved with prompt neutrons alone (neutrons that are released immed ...
, leading to a destructive power excursion. Three trained military men had been working inside the reactor room when a mistake was made while reattaching a control rod to its motor assembly.
[ See summary]
/ref> With the central control rod nearly fully extended, the nuclear reactor rated at 3 MW rapidly increased power to 20 GW. This rapidly boiled the water inside the core. As the steam expanded, a pressure wave of water forcefully struck the top of the reactor vessel, upon which two of the men stood. The explosion was so severe that the reactor vessel was propelled nine feet into the air, striking the ceiling before settling back into its original position. One man was impaled by a shield plug and lodged into the ceiling, where he died instantly. The other men died from their injuries within hours. The three men were buried in lead coffins, and that entire section of the site was buried.[ Chapter 15.][ Chapter 16.] The core meltdown caused no damage to the area, although some radioactive nuclear fission product
Nuclear fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large atomic nucleus undergoes nuclear fission. Typically, a large nucleus like that of uranium fissions by splitting into two smaller nuclei, along with a few neutrons, the release ...
s were released into the atmosphere.
The site has since developed into the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a national laboratory operated by the United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...
. INL and its contractors are a major economic engine for the Idaho Falls area, employing more than 8,000 people between the desert site and its research and education campus in Idaho Falls. Among other projects, INL operates and manages the world-famous Advanced Test Reactor
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, located east of Arco, Idaho. This reactor was designed and is used to test nuclear fuels and materials to be used in power plants, naval propulsion, research ...
(ATR).
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, the city has a total area of , of which, , 98% is land and 0.45 square miles (1.17 km2, 2%) is water.
Natural disasters are rare in the area, although an F2 tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
hit the Idaho Falls area on April 7, 1978, causing up to $5 million in damage.
River Walk
Idaho Falls has an extensive river walk trail featuring running and bike trails, art installations, and points of interest along several miles of the Snake River. It is maintained by the city and periodically receives donations and grants that allow for expansion.
Neighborhoods
Notable Idaho Falls neighborhoods include:
* Downtown - Historic downtown Idaho Falls sits on several blocks of the original townsite along the east side of the river. It features restaurants, plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
s, shops, and cultural amenities including the Museum of Idaho
The Museum of Idaho (MOI) is a history and science museum in downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho. The museum features exhibits, collections, and programs focused on the social and environmental history of Idaho and the Intermountain West, as well as prom ...
, Colonial Theatre, Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls Public Library, and Japanese Friendship Garden. It is home to the Idaho Falls Farmers' Market and many other community events.
* The Numbered Streets - The numbered streets area was the first planned neighborhood in Idaho Falls. The streets run west and east between South Boulevard and Holmes Avenue. Traffic on the odd-numbered streets travels east, and west on the even-numbered streets. Kate Curley Park is located in the neighborhood, as is the Wesley W. Deist Aquatic Center and the Eleventh Street Historic District.
* West Side - The West Side houses Idaho Falls Regional Airport
Idaho Falls Regional Airport is two miles north-northwest of downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States. It is locally known as Fanning Field. It is the second-busiest airport in Idaho after Boise Airport.
The National Plan of Integrated Air ...
and I-15. It has retained more of a small-town feel than the east side, which has grown and developed much more rapidly since the 1980s.
* Snake River Landing - SRL is a large, mixed-use development on the west side of the river near I-15, which includes residential, restaurant, park, and community event space, including a planned mid-sized indoor arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
. It now hosts the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration, a large Independence Day event.
Climate
Idaho Falls experiences 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 freezing ...
with warm summers and cold winters (Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Dfb''). Precipitation is relatively sparse, but not low enough to classify the climate as semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of 2010, there were 56,813 people, 21,203 households, and 14,510 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...
was . There were 22,977 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 89.3% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 0.7% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.0% Native American, 1.0% Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.1% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 5.6% from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 12.9% of the population.
There were 21,203 households, of which 37.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 31.6% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.20.
The median age in the city was 32.2 years. 29.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.5% were from 25 to 44; 23.4% were from 45 to 64; and 11.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.5% male and 50.5% female.
2000 census
The 2000 census reported there were 50,730 people, 18,793 households, and 13,173 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 19,771 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.09% White, 0.62% African American, 0.76% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 3.81% from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 1.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.18% of the population.
There were 18,793 households, out of which 37.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.5% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 30.3% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $40,512, and the median income for a family was $47,431. Males had a median income of $39,082 versus $23,001 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the city was $18,857. About 7.8% of families and 10.9% 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 t ...
, including 12.7% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
The top five ethnic groups in Idaho Falls are:
* English - 22%
* German - 16%
* Irish - 7%
* Mexican - 5%
* Swedish - 4%
Economy
Idaho Falls serves as a regional hub for health care, travel
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...
, and business in eastern Idaho.
The community's economy was mostly agriculturally focused until the opening of the National Reactor Testing Station in the desert west of Idaho Falls in 1949. The city subsequently became largely dependent on high-income jobs from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), known locally simply as "The Site." Since the 1990s, the city has added a significant retail, entertainment, and restaurant sector, as well as a regional medical center.
Idaho Falls hosts the headquarters of the United Potato Growers of Idaho and District 7 of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. It is the home to several small-to-medium-sized national corporations such as North Wind, Inc. and Melaleuca, Inc.
The median home price in Idaho Falls was $224,800 in January 2007.
Idaho Falls, Idaho / U.S. average:
* Area population 122,995 / 647,500
* Median home price $224,800 / $235,000
* Cost-of-living index 99.8 / 100.0
* Unemployment rate 2.7% / 4.6%
* Job growth—5 years 18.84% / 4.90%
* Job growth—1 year 2.74% / 1.66%
* Median household income $47,719 / $46,326
Arts and culture
The Willard Arts Center, The Colonial Theatre and Civic Auditorium host musical concerts, plays, and events.
The Museum of Idaho
The Museum of Idaho (MOI) is a history and science museum in downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho. The museum features exhibits, collections, and programs focused on the social and environmental history of Idaho and the Intermountain West, as well as prom ...
showcases local artifacts and history. It also brings in major traveling exhibits such as fossilized dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s, Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...
s, Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...
remnants, and "Bodies: the Exhibition."
Downtown Idaho Falls once struggled as the city expanded eastward, but it has been revitalized in recent years due to the efforts of local business owners, the City of Idaho Falls, and other organizations such as the Downtown Development Corporation and the Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce. Today, it is home to a handful of locally owned shops, stores, restaurants, galleries, theaters, and future revitalization efforts.
The city attracts many tourists visiting nearby Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
and Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton ...
s, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is a U.S. national monument and national preserve in the Snake River Plain in central Idaho. It is along US 20 ( concurrent with US 93 and US 26), between the small towns of Arco and Carey, a ...
, Jackson Hole, and fishing on the Snake River. Due to its proximity to high-profile outdoor destinations, Idaho Falls was in 2017 named to ''National Geographic Society, National Geographic''s list of the "100 Best Adventure Towns".
Recreation
There are three 18-hole golf courses located in Idaho Falls; Sage Lakes Golf Course (North Idaho Falls), Pinecrest Golf Course (Central Idaho Falls), and Sand Creek Golf Course (South Idaho Falls. Each course is 18 holes, all of them having a putting and chipping area. Golf carts are available on all three courses.
There are four disc golf courses located in and around Idaho Falls.
Education
Higher education
Idaho Falls is home to a few higher education options, including College of Eastern Idaho
College of Eastern Idaho is a public community college in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It was founded in 1969 as Eastern Idaho Vocational Technical School and later became a technical college called Eastern Idaho Technical College. In May 2017, Bonnevill ...
. Originally established in 1969 as a vocational-technical college named Eastern Idaho Technical College, voters approved a measure in May 2017 to transition EITC into Eastern Idaho's only community college. Stevens-Henager College and University of Phoenix have also opened local resource centers in order to aid students in online degree programs.
A satellite campus called University Place features dual enrollment for students in both Pocatello
Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...
-based Idaho State University and Moscow, Idaho, Moscow-based University of Idaho. Students generally earn core classes at University Place and then transfer to ISU's or UI's main campus to finish their degrees. However, a few dozen degree programs, both undergraduate and graduate, are fully offered at University Place. The campus also boasts high-tech facilities such as the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES). CAES is run by a partnership of Idaho's three research universities (UI, ISU, Boise State) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Primary and secondary education
Idaho Falls is served by Idaho Falls School District #91 and Bonneville Joint School District #93. District #91 covers the majority of urban Idaho Falls and a small portion of Bonneville County west of the city. District #93 covers minimal parts of eastern Idaho Falls, and the remainder of Bonneville County with the exception of some remote areas that have independent elementary districts. All middle and high school students are transported into District #93 secondary schools.
Idaho Falls is home to eight public high schools, four public middle schools, and 26 public elementary schools. It is also served by four public charter schools and three private schools.
;Public high schools (9-12)
* Bonneville High School (Idaho), Bonneville High School
* Hillcrest High School (Idaho), Hillcrest High School
* Idaho Falls High School
* Skyline High School (Idaho), Skyline High School
* Thunder Ridge High School
* Compass Academy
* Emerson High School
*Lincoln High School
Each fall, the varsity football teams of Idaho Falls and Skyline compete in a rival American football, football game called the Emotion Bowl. Each year, after the game, the winning team and its fans traditionally paint the goalposts of the stadium in their school colors (orange for Idaho Falls and blue for Skyline). Bonneville and Hillcrest participate in a similar event known as the Civil War.
Media
The ''Post Register'', a daily newspaper, serves the Idaho Falls area. The area is also served by seven radio stations, two owned by local media group Sand Hill Media. The Idaho Falls/Pocatello region is served by five major television stations. There are four major news outlets in the area: KIDK (Dabl, also broadcast on sister Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox station KXPI-LD), KIFI-TV (American Broadcasting Company, ABC/Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS), KPVI-DT (NBC, licensed to Pocatello), and Idaho Public Television. Online media outlet East Idaho News also serves the area with news coverage.
Notable people
* Chandler Brossard - beat novelist, author of ''Who Walk in Darkness''
* Gregory C. Carr - telecommunications entrepreneur and philanthropist; head of Gorongosa National Park restoration in Mozambique
* Steven E. Carr - only American ever elected to Standing Commission of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, organization's highest governing body worldwide
* Barzilla W. Clark - Governor of Idaho 1937–1939. Mayor of Idaho Falls 1913–15, 1926–36
* Mike Crapo - U.S. Senator (R-ID), serving since 1998
* Dame Darcy - avant-garde cartoonist and author of Meatcake (comics), Meatcake
* Jared Gold - fashion designer, featured on ''America's Next Top Model''
* Gregg Hale (musician), Gregg Hale - guitar player for multi-platinum selling British band Spiritualized
* Michael Jon Hand - former CIA operative, arms dealer, drug dealer and international fugitive; co-founder of the defunct Nugan Hand Bank
* Mary Kornman - actress, best known for ''Our Gang'' comedies
* Rachel Martin (broadcast journalist), Rachel Martin - NPR journalist, host of Morning Edition
* Janice McGeachin - lieutenant-governor of Idaho 2019–present
* Edgar Miller (artist), Edgar Miller - designer and artist
* Yo Murphy - former Canadian Football League, CFL/National Football League, NFL wide receiver; played at Idaho Falls High School
* Ryan D. Nelson, Ryan Nelson - federal judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2018–present)
* Martha Raddatz - ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, recipient of 4 Emmy Awards
* Wilson Rawls - author of ''Where the Red Fern Grows'' and ''Summer of the Monkeys''
* Brandi Sherwood - Miss Idaho Teen USA 1989, Miss Teen USA 1989, Miss Idaho USA 1997, Miss USA 1997 (succeeded)
* John L. Smith - head football coach at Michigan State, University of Louisville, Louisville, Utah State, University of Idaho, Idaho, and University of Arkansas, Arkansas
* Frank L. VanderSloot - businessman, owner of Melaleuca Inc., a home-goods/health-product marketing company; national finance co-chair for Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012, Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign
Sister city
Idaho Falls has a town twinning, sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International:
* Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan
Gallery
File:Utah Street fountain and sculpture Idaho Falls.jpg, Fountain and sculpture on Utah Avenue Roundabout in Idaho Falls
File:Idaho Falls War Memorial.jpg, Idaho State Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Freeman Park
File:Snake river fur trapper.jpg, Sculpture of Snake River Fur Trapper by Roy Reynolds on the bank of the Snake River (along the River Walk) in Idaho Falls
File:Idaho Falls Library.jpg, Idaho Falls Library; sculpture by Marilyn Hoff Hansen dedicated to Wilson Rawls, author of ''Where the Red Fern Grows''
References
External links
*
Idaho Falls Public Library
Idaho Falls Chamber Of Commerce
Idaho Falls Convention And Visitors Bureau
*
{{Authority control
Idaho Falls, Idaho,
Cities in Idaho
Cities in Bonneville County, Idaho
County seats in Idaho
Populated places established in 1864
Cities in Idaho Falls metropolitan area