The College of Idaho

For sixteen years the college carried another name. Joe Albertson, who founded the grocery chain, and Kathryn McCurry met in a chemistry class here, and on New Year's Day 1930 the Reverend Boone married them; the school was known as Boone's marriage mill. In 1991, on its centennial, the trustees renamed it Albertson College of Idaho. Many alumni never warmed to it, and in 2007, with a $50 million gift and the Albertson foundation's agreement, the old name came back. This panel has been reported missing from its corner; the text here is read from an earlier photograph.

What the plaque says

The College of Idaho Planned by the Presbyterians of southern Idaho in 1884 and opened with 19 students in 1891, this is Idaho's oldest college. William Judson Boone, the founder, remained president 45 years. From a modest beginning with a faculty of 8 (including two later governors and a chief justice), it grew to full college status and moved in 1910 to this site, then an alkali desert. A Boise Valley electric railroad served the college, and an interurban station, always known as the "Hat," still stands on the campus as a reminder of the college's pioneer days. 291 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• World Center for Birds of Prey — 23 mi
  The hilltop where the peregrine falcon was bred back from DDT, and where condors for the Grand Canyon country still hatch.

More markers nearby

• Emigrant Crossing — 2.3 mi
• The Ward Massacre — 3.7 mi
• Lower Boise — 7.7 mi
• Northwest Nazarene University — 8.2 mi