Celebrating the Past and Cultivating the Future at Boise’s Spaulding Ranch
It’s a temperate fall morning in Boise, Idaho. The sun shines in the cloudless sky and there’s a crisp chill in the air serving as a reminder that summer is over. Around you are flannel-clad families carefully inspecting a community garden in search of the perfect pumpkin to adorn their front porches. Meanwhile, toddlers bob haphazardly around the 20-acre property you’ve found yourself on. Chatter and laughter fill the vast field, and for a moment it feels like you’ve traveled back in time.
You’ve stumbled on Spaulding Ranch in Boise’s West Bench, and an annual pumpkin patch event held by the Boise Parks and Recreation to mark the start of fall and the harvest season. The Spaulding Ranch property, currently serving as a community garden, has stood for over 100 years in the City of Trees and serves as an homage to the agricultural history of the area. The City of Boise owns the 20-acre property, with the goal of creating a one-of-a-kind park and educational facility that celebrates the past while creating a bright, new future for the space.
The Ranch’s History
The Spaulding Homestead was established in 1896 after Almon W. and Dr. Mary E. Spaulding moved from Los Angeles to Boise in 1890. They first built a 4-bedroom Victorian-style home on the original 100-acre property, and later in 1910 they added a barn. Both original structures still stand today. Dr. Mary E. Spaulding was Boise’s first female surgeon, and Almon W. Spaulding worked on the Interurban – a train that used to run between Boise’s Natatorium and the city of Caldwell, Idaho.
The remaining 20 acres of the ranch was designated as a local historic district in 1996. It was then acquired by the City of Boise in 2016 through a land swap. It is the first property of its kind in the Boise Parks and Recreation Department’s inventory. Today, the ranch serves as a site that provides various opportunities for education and community participation with an agricultural lens – and there is the potential for so much more.
The Future of Spaulding Ranch
Lisa Duplessie, Superintendent of Open Space for the City of Boise, manages the Spaulding Ranch project with the goal of creating a unique gathering space for the community where people of all ages can be inspired.
“It's a lot of partnerships, as well as working on the infrastructure and finding the funding,” said Duplessie. “Trying to put the puzzle pieces together, I would say, is the main job.”
The master plan for the Spaulding Ranch project includes many new additions to the space that will promote community involvement and connection including pollinator gardens, pathways, an outdoor classroom, an indoor meeting space, an amphitheater, potential for a small animal farm and much more. With all these new features, Duplessie stressed the importance of preserving Spaulding Ranch’s rich history in every aspect of the project.
“When [the city] first acquired the property in 2016, the public and our stakeholders were very much supportive of it being a public space that is all about education, agriculture and history,” Duplessie said. “It will be a not only a community gathering space, but also a space where we can offer educational classes. There will be agriculture on site, and then really threading the historical piece through it.”
One way the project team has already infused the area’s history into the updated space is by planting a 100-tree orchard on the plot of land where the original orchard stood on the property. It’s already bearing fruit harvested annually including apples and peaches. The team will also oversee the preservation and rehabilitation of the original home and barn with the state’s Historic Preservation Committee. It is expected to include classrooms, office space, a commercial kitchen and an event space.
Right now, the team is working on engineered drawings for the pathway plan, which will allow people to navigate across the 20-acre park sight and the hope is it will eventually connect through to Capital High School, Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve and Milwaukee Park. Spaulding Lane was completed in 2024 along with designated parking, and improvements were made to the Tuttle Lateral canal on site. Additionally, the City of Boise has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of Idaho solidifying their work to collaborate on the Spaulding Ranch project into the future.
“I think from a U of I standpoint they’re very interested in this urban agriculture space and how we can do some research projects, environmental education and Harvest Heroes, which is their veterans’ program,” said Duplessie.
The city is also partnering with Global Gardens, a Boise-based program that supports farmers from diverse backgrounds. The acreage for farming at Spaulding Ranch creates more urban farming opportunities for families to meet their food needs.
“There’s a lot of opportunity,” added Duplessie.
However, even with the established community interest and involvement of initial partners, the project will not come to fruition quickly. There’s currently no timeline for completion due to the complexity, cost and scope of the project.
“Spaulding will take a lot of get off the ground,” Duplessie said. “There’s a building component and then the land component, and right now we’re focused on getting the infrastructure put in place so it’s safe for the public and partners to be on the property.”
According to Duplessie, the team is taking on the project in phases, from basic infrastructure onward with the hope community partners will see the value in the site and step forward to support it.
“We’re working on getting a restroom and a wash station so that farmers can farm on the property, wash veggies and take them from there,” Duplessie said. “That, I would say, is our next two-year plan.”
The biggest challenge Duplessie said she and the team have faced with this project is the sheer scope of it.
“It’s super large,” said Duplessie. “When we get a new park property, we have a model of how to green up a park and make it happen. But this is totally different and outside the box than anything we’ve done before.”
According to Duplessie, Spaulding Ranch is the only property of its kind in the city and state. Because of this, she and her team must navigate a plan as unique as the property it’s designed for – from irrigation needs to determining the right way to meld the present makeup of the space with the historical legacy it represents.
While the restoration and activation of Spaulding Ranch is a significant undertaking, Duplessie is excited for people in Boise and across the region to experience urban agriculture in this unique way.
“We’re losing agriculture and farmland, especially inside city limits,” Duplessie said. “It’s such a gift of a space.”
A gift that Duplessie and the team know will keep on giving with the right care and attention. When she pictures the future of Spaulding Ranch, she envisions apple picking, farmers markets, neighborhood picnics, weddings at the barn, outdoor preschool lessons and people coming out to enjoy the space on a daily basis. And each fall, families can return to the Spaulding Ranch pumpkin patch to celebrate the harvest season and make memories in this special place.
“I think the sky’s the limit,” Duplessie said. “This is a super unique space that will meld education, agriculture and history, and hopefully it will be a really vibrant space that people can use for generations to come.”
To learn more about Spaulding Ranch and the city’s ongoing investments in this important park site, click here.
Written by Abby Fackler, Communications Specialist for Boise Parks and Recreation (2024)
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