Pocatello History

Southern Idaho was once seen as a harsh “Land Of Fire and Fracture,” a desert settlers crossed in search of greener country. Beyond Fort Hall, established 17 miles northwest of here in 1834, pioneers chose trails to California or Oregon, and miners and merchants later opened new routes north to the gold strikes. Wagon roads soon ran north, south, east, and west from this valley, and later rail lines carried heavy freight. In 1881 the Oregon Short Line Railway Co. bought 40 acres from the Indians for its Idaho headquarters and named it Pocatello Junction, taking the name from an Indian chief who camped in the area. In 1888, 1,840 acres were acquired for a townsite, and when Pocatello became the seat of newly created Bannock County in 1893, major buildings already marked its business district. The crossroads community soon became known as the “Gate City.” The Academy of Idaho opened in 1902 and by 1963 had become Idaho State University. A building boom from 1914 to 1921 produced many of the city’s finest and tallest buildings, including the seven-story Bannock Hotel tower formerly on this site. Pocatello developed into Idaho’s most diverse industrial city and a transportation hub, with highways, an airport, and freeways carrying travelers and commerce in every direction, and it continues to serve as the Gate City.

Pocatello, Idaho · United States