Only fifteen years after the founders of Boise City has established its first street layout in 1863, the town was ready to expand. In 1878 Dr Dwight Arnold created Boise’s first suburb. North of town near the military encampment of Fort Boise, the ‘addition” soon attracted others. By 1890, real estate developers had created a street grid, laid water mains, and promoted an Interurban Railway route through what soon became known as the “North End.”
The next 25 years saw continued growth in the valley. Vacant lots in the North End gradually filled in with popular styles of houses, but not in a pattern so tidy that all the Queen Annes (1890’s) or the Craftsman Bungalows (1910’s – 1920’s) or the Tudor Revivals (1920’s – 1930’s) were in the same districts. Rather, a splendid diversity of style appears on every street, with humble bungalows next door to graceful Queen Annes -- or Colonial Revivals -- or 1950s California Ranch homes.
Shade trees and sidewalks, straight streets and alleys unify the neighborhood visually. Pre-auto churches, schools and commercial centers provide many walk-to destinations. Harrison Boulevard’s landscaped median has become a city-wide landmark.
North End houses are modest and grand, single family and apartments, high-style and out-of-a-catalog. Bounded by 4th and 28th streets, Hill Road and State Street, the North End’s 5000 + homes shelter 12,000 + people as diverse as the rich historic and stylistic tapestry of the North End itself.
Historic Narrative: Susan Stacey
Historic Architecture Samples
1892 Queen Anne 1910 Prairie American Four Square
1899 Queen Anne Victorian 1929 Mission Revival
Vernacular Queen Anne Cottage 1930's Art Moderne
Late Victorian Queen Anne Italian Renaissance
1910 Craftsman Bungalow Washington School