Describe Boise & Interurban Company here. Boise & Interurban Company
The Boise Interurban Company was responsible for bringing modernity to the Treasure Valley via a railway system. At the turn of the 20th century, Boise and its surrounding farming communities were continually expanding, becoming a beacon in the West. Railways were a modern marvel that would help to transform Idaho into a fully connected urban center. “Electricity is a mere word for one of the hidden mysteries of nature,” as one Idaho Statesman writer wrote in 1891 remarking about the first incandescent lights to glow in the Boise downtown, four years after their implantation. Continuing on in the modernity brought to Boise, the Interurban Company brought electricity to the city of Star in 1907. Also in 1907, W.E. Pierce completed a railway from Boise to Caldwell, which passed through the cities of Eagle, Star, and Middleton. This would become the Boise Interurban Railway. The Interurban Company had aspirations to connect the whole of the Treasure Valley and would see that come to fruition with its railway systems in 1911. Powered by the surplus electricity from the dam at Swan Falls, the Boise Interurban Company engineered the construction of an electric railway that would connect the cities of Boise, Nampa and Caldwell. The completion of the entire track came in 1912, when the Boise Valley Railway (which extended from Boise to Nampa along Ustick and Franklin) and the Boise Interurban Railway (which extended from Boise to Caldwell along State Street) were connected into a continuous tract. The resulting growth of surrounding rural areas, such as Star, was spurred on by the confidence of the Boise Interurban Company. The continued funneling of revenue into the Treasure Valley helped transform Boise and its surrounding areas into an urban center. Recently, there has been an effort by the Idaho Historical Preservation Council to preserve the works of the Interurban Company. The transportation corridor that the Interurban company helped to develop is under review to decide on how best to present/interpret the works of the company. Further information on the preservation project found at Ada County: Valley Loop Study.
Resources: Hyperlinks contained in attached documents Boise Interurban Company in Star [""http://www.staridaho.org/history.html""] Electric City: Transforming the Boise Valley [""http://www.boisestate.edu/research/history/cityhistorian/timelines_city/timeline_electricity.html""] Boise Valley Electric Railroad Photographs [""http://farrit.lili.org/files/farrit/Trolley.pdf""] Ada County: Valley Loop Study [""http://www.adaweb.net/HistoricPreservationCouncil/Pages/ValleyLoopStudy.aspx""]
