Major elements of the park design are the architectural artifacts saved from Boise buildings that were demolished by Urban Renewal in the 1970s. The History Court, at the northeast corner of the park, contains a unique map made of brass, illustrating Boise before the turn of the century. The old Grove Street Ditch that runs along the south side of the park, has an operating waterwheel providing water to a small rivulet which is symbolic of Boise’s early canal system.
This sandstone arch was erected in 1904 as the main entrance to the Bush Building on Capitol Boulevard and Idaho Street. James H. Bush ran the big frame Central Hotel on that corner before it burned in 1890. City Hall now occupies the same historic site.
The Central School from which this stone was salvaged was the second Boise school to be so named. The first, built in 1883, stood next to the Territorial Capitol on Jefferson Street. When the new State Capitol was built on the same site in 1905, the second Central School was built one block to the north. It was demolished in 1973.
Waterwheels like the one in the park raised water from the ditches to irrigate land above them. The development of a ditch system soon after Boise was founded, transformed a sagebrush desert into a green oasis.
Frank Coffin built his Pioneer Building in 1894 at the southeast corner of 8th and Main. It replaced an earlier building built in 1864 by B.M. DuRell in order to house his general store. A few years after DuRell built his small brick First National Bank Building on Main Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets, Coffin established a tin and hardware business in the older structure. Like many pioneers who became wealthy, Coffin built a mansion on Grove St.
Date stones were placed on most early Boise buildings. Sometimes the stones were hollowed out and contained memorabilia of the times for future generations.
A.T. Ellis, a Boise pioneer blacksmith, built two brick two-story commercial buildings on Grove Street in 1902-03.
This sandstone block, like thousands used in Boise buildings, was quarried nearby. A popular material with Boise builders, sandstone was used in the construction of the State Capitol, St. John’s Cathedral and across the alley from the park, in the Belgravia building.
An early Boise physician used this stone carriage step in front of his house in the 1890s.
Cast-iron columns such as the ones found in the park were installed on Boise storefronts in the 1880s, making possible larger openings and plate glass windows. This made interiors brighter and allowed for window displays. Also of cast-iron are the streetlights which illuminated downtown Boise for many years. After newer models replaced them in the 1950s, the old ones were stored until they were resurrected for use in the rehabilitated Eighth Street warehouse district in the late 1970s.
Built in 1903, the Pierce Building stood across Main Street from the Idanha Hotel until its demolition in 1975 to make way for One Capital Center. Later known as the Men’s Wardrobe, the building was commissioned by pioneer and Boise real estate developer Walter E. Pierce. Pierce developed Harrison Boulevard and other North End neighborhoods.
This park lies in an historic area. One half block to the north on Main Street, covered wagons headed west along the Oregon Trail. The canal that runs through the park--the Grove Street Ditch, was constructed in 1866. Large water wheels every fifty to one hundred yards along the canal lifted water to flumes which carried it to many gardens along Main Street.
Grove Street was once Boise’s most prestigious residential area. C.W. Moore built a grand home at Eighth and Grove Street in 1879 (right photo) which became the Delamar Hotel after the Moores moved to a new mansion on Warm Springs Avenue and Walnut Street. The hotel was demolished by Urban Renewal in 1972, but several artifacts, including a bay window, were salvaged by the Idaho Historical Society and are now on display in the Idaho State Historical Museum in Julia Davis Park.
The two lots Moore deeded to the city for a children’s park and playground were not developed until the 1930s when a playground was finally built. In 1956, a World War II barracks was moved to the site to serve as a home for the Idaho Society of Crippled Children and Adults. When the Society moved in 1975, the Boise Jaycees used the building as a community and youth center. The building was removed to make way for the re-establishment of the park, which was dedicated in 1983.
Christopher W. Moore arrived in Boise in 1863, the year of the city’s founding. On July 4th of that year, Mayor Pinckney Lugenbeel and an Army company had selected a site near Cottonwood Creek for their new military post named Fort Boise. Three days later, the town itself was organized and the street plan laid out.
C.W. Moore (left) was born in Toronto, Canada in 1835 and educated in Wisconsin. He came to Oregon in 1852 with his family and a large party of pioneers. The emigrants brought along 300 head of cattle and horses, which the sixteen year-old Moore helped drive across the plains.
After a few years of raising, buying, selling and shipping livestock, Moore came to Idaho in 1862 and was soon running stores in Ruby City and Silver City. Moore and his partner, B.M. DuRell offered some limited banking services in their general stores and in 1867, established the First National Bank of Idaho, one of the first chartered in the West.
Through his astute management of the bank over the next half century, Moore contributed much to the growth of Idaho’s business and industry. In 1891, he helped form the Boise Artesian Hot and Cold Water Company and heated his own Warm Springs Avenue home with natural hot water – the earliest such use in the United States.
Moore’s sense of civic responsibility was of a high order and he gave generously and inconspicuously to charity for many years. At his death, The Idaho Daily Statesman wrote of him, “If he heard of cases of need, it was his custom to render aid before his assistance was asked.” Among Moore’s many such contributions is this park, deeded to the city in 1916, the year of his death.
For other after hours park related emergencies (i.e. irrigation issues, restrooms), please call (208) 489-6640.