Old Idaho State Penitentiary

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Old Idaho State Penitentiary
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Facade Photograph - Courtesy of Peter Wollheim
Facade
Photograph - Courtesy of Peter Wollheim
Location: 2200 Warm Springs Ave.
Boise, Idaho in Ada County
Nearest city: Boise[1]
Coordinates: 43°36′10″N 116°09′45″W / 43.60278, -116.1625Coordinates: 43°36′10″N 116°09′45″W / 43.60278, -116.1625
Area: 5100 acres, 15 buildings
Built/Founded: 1870-1872
Architect: Unknown
Architectural style(s): Romanesque
Added to NRHP: 1974-07-17
NRHP Reference#: 74000729[2]
Governing body: State of Idaho

The Old Idaho State Penitentiary was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870. The territory was less than ten years old when the prison was built east of Boise, Idaho in the western United States. From its beginnings as a single cell house, the penitentiary grew to a complex of several distinctive buildings surrounded by a high sandstone wall. The stone was quarried from the nearby ridges by the resident convicts, who also completed all the later construction. [3]

The Old Pen is now part of the Idaho State Historical Society.

Contents

[edit] Prison history

Over its one-hundred and three years of operation, the penitentiary received more than 13,000 convicts, with a maximum population of six-hundred. Two-hundred and fifteen of the inmates were women. Two serious riots occurred in 1971 and 1973 over by living conditions in the prison. The 416 resident inmates were moved to a modern penitentiary south of Boise and the Old Idaho Penitentiary was closed on December 3, 1973.[4]

In 1992, the Idaho State Historical Society recorded oral history interviews with fifteen former prison guards. These tapes and transcripts cover prison operations and remembrances from the 1940s to the closing of the prison. The collection is open for research at the society. [5]

[edit] Museum and Historical Society

The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 for its significance as a Territorial Prison. The site currently contains museums, an arboretum and is a facility managed by the Idaho State Historical Society.[6]

In late 1999 J.C. Earl a renowned weapons collector donated his personal collection to the state of Idaho. These items were placed on exhibition as the J.C. Earl Exhibit in the Old Pen. They range from Bronze Age to those used today for sport, law enforcement, and military purposes. The Luristan Bronze collection dates to 3500 B.C.

[edit] External links

Idaho State Historical Society Official site

Entrance to the old Penitentiary (Photograph - Courtesy of Peter Wollheim)
Entrance to the old Penitentiary
(Photograph - Courtesy of Peter Wollheim)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Park Service (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
  2. ^ Ada County. State Listings. National Register of Historic Places (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
  3. ^ Wollheim, Peter (2005). "Correction by design". Idaho Issues Online. Center for Idaho History and Politics. ISSN 1553-9148. 
  4. ^ Marsh, Robert L.; Steven B. Patrick (2005). "Hard choices". Idaho Issues Online. Center for Idaho History and Politics. ISSN 1553-9148. 
  5. ^ Hodges, Kathy (1999), Guide to the Idaho Old Penitentiary Former Guards Oral History Project: 1940s-1970s, Idaho State Historical Society. Public Archives and Research Library. Idaho Oral History Center., <http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/nwda-search/findstyle.aspx?doc=oihohguard.xml&t=i&q=4> 
  6. ^ Old Idaho Penitentiary timeline. Education Programs. Idaho State Historical Society (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-03.


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