Caldwell

Nestled in the Treasure Valley, surrounded by the Owyhee, Weiser and Boise mountain ranges, the present-day City of Caldwell is located along a natural passageway to the Inland and Pacific Northwest. Indian tribes from the west coast, northern Idaho and as far away as Colorado would come to the banks of the Boise River for annual trading fairs. European and Hawaiian explorers soon followed the paths left by Indians, and hopeful emigrants later forged the Oregon Trail to seek a better life in the Oregon Territory. Pioneers of the Trail traveled along the Boise River to Canyon Hill and forded the river close to the “Silver Bridge” on present-day Plymouth Street.

During the Civil War the discovery of gold in Idaho’s mountains brought a variety of new settlers into the area. Many never made it to the mines, choosing instead to settle along the Boise River and run ferries, stage stations and freighting businesses. These early entrepreneurs created small ranches and farms in the river valleys.Caldwell’s inception largely occurred as a result of the construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, which connected Wyoming to Oregon through Idaho. Robert E. Strahorn came to the Boise River Valley in 1883 to select a route for the railroad, and rejected the grade into Boise City as too steep, therefore choosing a site 30 miles to the west. He drove a stake into an alkali flat of sagebrush and the City of Caldwell was platted. Caldwell was named after one of Strahorn’s business partners, Alexander Caldwell, a former Senator from Kansas.