David Bradley Bliss was born in Minnesota in 1840. While exploring southern Idaho on the old Kelton Road near Clover Creek Station, he viewed the Snake River Plain from the high bluff just north of here, later known as Bliss Hill. He remained and homesteaded the land to the west and south. The original Bliss home was built in 1879. He chartered the town site of Bliss in 1881 just before the arrival of the O.S.L. RR. The Bliss Grade became a busy freight wagon route for supplies destined for the Malad River and Hagerman Valley area. Bliss died in 1909, and his wife, Lydia, survived until 1921. They are interred in the Bliss Family Cemetery along with their children, Weston A. Bliss, 1871-1897, and David Eli Bliss, 1873-1909, and other family members.