Idaho State University

The school was a promise with a condition. Senate Bill 53, drafted by Theodore F. Turner, Pocatello's mayor and a state senator, and signed on March 11, 1901, created the Academy of Idaho only if private land was donated for it. Landowners fought over the site in what was called the Battle of the Blocks until an 8.5-acre tract was chosen. The first building, later named Swanson Hall, opened in 1902 and was torn down in 1973. Its entry arch was kept, and new students march through it.

What the plaque says

Idaho State University This great institution began here on Sept. 22, 1902, with 4 teachers and 40 students. Originally the Academy of Idaho, it became Idaho Technical Institute in 1915, the Southern Branch of the University of Idaho in 1927, and Idaho State College in 1947. Its development of professional and graduate programs and its continued growth in stature led to its designation as a university in 1963. 289 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Museum — 12 mi
  Fort Hall told from the other side of the trade counter, by the tribes whose reservation now surrounds the site of the post.
• Lava Hot Springs — 27 mi
  The pools belong to the state because the springs left the Fort Hall Reservation and Congress handed them to Idaho in 1902.

More markers nearby

• Chief Pocatello — 1.1 mi
• Idaho's 1st Railroad — 9.7 mi
• American Falls — 22 mi
• American Falls Power Plants — 23 mi