Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 42

Idaho Falls Dedicates a New City Hall and Fire Station [otd 11/16]

On November 16, 1930, Idaho Falls officials dedicated a new City Hall. It replaced the old city building, which had been in use since before 1911.

Idaho Falls, aka “Eagle Rock,” aka “Taylor’s Bridge,” originated when James Madison “Matt” Taylor and his partners opened a toll bridge at the spot in 1865 [blog, Dec 10]. Settlement was very slow at first. When Matt’s cousin Sam Taylor [blog, Apr 18] arrived in June 1870, he recalled, “There was nothing there then but Matt Taylor’s fami...

Idaho Falls developer and Construction Leader William Keefer [otd 11/15]

William Keefer. J. H. Hawley photo.Idaho Falls developer and builder William W. Keefer was born November 15, 1852 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 40-60 miles southwest of Harrisburg. Although he was a carpenter by trade, as a young man he spent two years teaching school.

In about 1873, he found work in the west. He ended up leading a construction crew building bridges and depots for the Utah & Northern Railroad in northern Utah and southeast Idaho

Financial problems slowed an...

Timothy Regan: Freighter, Mining Expert, and Business Developer [otd 11/14]

Timothy Regan. J. H. Hawley photo.Wealthy businessman and developer Timothy Regan was born November 14, 1843 near Rochester, New York. The family later moved to Wisconsin, where Timothy grew up and received a public school education. In 1864, he struck out on his own, taking the isthmus route to California.

He found little to his liking there and, being nearly broke, walked all the way to a prosperous gold camp about 20 miles southwest of Winnemucca, Nevada. He worked and saved for about six we...

Jewish Businessman and Idaho Governor Moses Alexander [otd 11/13]

Moses Alexander.
Illustrated History photo.Idaho Governor Moses Alexander was born on November 13, 1853 in Obrigheim, Germany. In 1867, he emigrated to the U. S., where he lived with a sister in New York for a few months.

Moses then moved on to work with a cousin in Chillicothe, Missouri. He proved to have a talent for retail merchandizing, which he put to good use … advancing from clerk to partner at the age of twenty.

In 1891, Alexander moved to Idaho and opened a men’s clothing store in downto...Alexander.

BYU-Idaho Predecessor, Bannock Stake Academy, Has Building Dedicated [otd 11/12]

On November 12, 1888, Mormon pioneers dedicated the school building for the Bannock Stake Academy in Rexburg, Idaho. With this small start, the Academy can justly lay claim to being the first organization in the state that eventually grew into an institution of higher learning. Not the first actual college, however; at least three Idaho schools taught college-level classes before them.
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Cornerstone Laid for Roman Catholic Cathedral in Boise [otd 11/11]

On Sunday, November 11, 1906, officials laid the cornerstone for a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Boise, to be known as the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Catholics had gotten off to an early start in Boise City. Two priests – Fathers Toussaint Mesplie and A. Z. Poulin – arrived in the region about the time the Army established Fort Boise in 1863.

During their first years, they held services in private homes or available public buildings. Catholics built their fi...

Alexander Toponce: Freighter, Stockman, Stage Line Operator ... and More [otd 11/10]

Alexander Toponce, energetic immigrant entrepreneur, was born November 10, 1839 in Belfort, France … about thirty miles west of Basel, Switzerland. The family came to the U. S. in June 1846. As a younger son, Alex labored hard on the farm but received no education and had no prospects of any kind. He spurned the family farm at age ten, and headed west at fifteen. Alex recalled, “I found lots of French people in St. Louis.”

For almost a decade, Toponce “whacked bulls” for a freight...

Boise Mayor, Attorney, and Earthquake Witness Joseph Pence [otd 11/09]

Mayor Pence. CityofBoise.comOn November 9, 1869, Boise Mayor Joseph Thomas Pence was born in Ottuma, Iowa. He graduated from Parsons College (Fairfield, Iowa) in 1892. Pence then taught at another small Iowa college, serving four years as Chair of its Department of Classical Languages.

After studying law for a year at Georgetown University, he transferred to Drake University Law School. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1900.

Pence moved to Boise immediately after graduation and...

University of Idaho Language Professor and Dean Jay Eldridge [otd 11/8]

Dean Eldridge.
University of Idaho Archives.University of Idaho Dean of the Faculty Jay Glover Eldridge was born November 8, 1875, in Janesville, Wisconsin (about 60 miles southwest of Milwaukee).

After much moving around the country, the family ended up in New York state where the young man received his early education. He then graduated with highest honors from Yale University in 1896. (He received a Ph.D. from the school ten years later.)

He then studied modern languages at Yale wh...

Medical Pioneer and Tuberculosis Researcher Edwin Guyon [otd 11/07]

On November 7, 1853, physician and medical pioneer Edwin F. Guyon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. By one account, his father was among the nearly 13 thousand yellow fever deaths (ten percent of the population) in New Orleans during the period 1853-1855. In 1855, his mother relocated the family to California, where she remarried.

They soon moved to Oregon and, when Edwin was about twelve, his stepfather went into cattle ranching. As a young man, Guyon became a successful small r...