University of Idaho

The university's site was a peace offering. North Idaho had spent years trying to rejoin Washington: the territorial legislature asked Congress in 1885 to return the panhandle, and in March 1887 a bill to do it reached President Cleveland, who did not sign it. In January 1889 the legislature put the new university in Moscow, the territory's largest town after Boise, rather than in the south, and its charter passed into the state constitution in 1890. The doors opened on October 3, 1892, to forty students, and it stayed Idaho's only university until 1963.

What the plaque says

University of Idaho Like this long highway, the University of Idaho links together the northern and southern parts of the state of Idaho. Established by the territorial legislature, Jan. 30, 1889, the university opened in the fall of 1892. As Idaho's land grant institution, the university was charged to bring the benefits of quality teaching, research, and service to the people of Idaho. Its nine colleges and its graduate school now serve thousands of students, and it is the major center for higher education in Idaho. 279 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spalding — 19 mi
  The Nimiipuu went to St. Louis asking about a book. What came back was a mission, a printing press and a museum.

More markers nearby

• Mackenzie's Post — 16 mi
• Lewis Clark State College — 16 mi
• The First Capital — 16 mi
• Lewiston Hill — 16 mi