As America turns 250 years old this year and many are reflecting on our country’s past, we wanted to take a closer look at Idaho’s history, which reflects the breadth of the American experience. Discovering more about the places we see and touch in our daily lives can create deeper connections with our home and our community. So we’re taking a deep dive into the history of Boise, one small piece at a time with our America 250: Short Histories of Boise Project. Each Monday on Idaho Matters, we’ll bring you a snapshot of a small corner of our Capital City and its unique past.
Today we’ll explore the Owyhee Hotel.
Let me set the scene: a surge of newcomers to the capital reshaped Boise from a quiet town into a bustling city almost overnight. A building boom altered the skyline as growing neighborhoods pushed farmland farther and farther from downtown. Boise began to expand, bringing dramatic changes to its look, feel and overall aesthetic. And I’m not talking about the 2010s, I’m talking about the 1910s.
William Howard Taft had been president for just one year when the Owyhee Hotel opened its doors in 1910, offering competition to the Idanha Hotel a few blocks east. Rising six-stories above downtown, the Owyhee ushered Boise into what some contemporaries called its “city era.” Modern for its time, the hotel boasted a rooftop terrace and a stained-glass dome above the lobby. One particularly notable space was a men’s only room known as the “beefsteak dungeon,” adorned with candles that illuminated brick walls and a cement floor, padlocked bars and heavy old hickory furniture, where male members gathered to converse and dine in what was called “true stag style.”
The hotel’s heyday came during the early to mid-twentieth century, but its name goes back long before Idaho was even a state.
The hotel’s name resulted from a public contest open to Idaho women who were invited to suggest possible names. Out of more than a thousand entries, “Owyhee” was chosen: a name independently submitted by eight women. But the word Owyhee, itself, has a much older origin. Owyhee was the original English spelling of Hawai‘i.
In the early 1800s, Native Hawaiians worked in the Northwest fur trade, including three Polynesian trappers who joined a Snake River expedition in 1819. The men disappeared in the mountains southwest of present-day Boise and were never found. Their story became legend, and trappers began calling the region “Owyhee” in their memory, a name that later found its way to the Owyhee Hotel.
This connection to Native Hawaiians might come as a surprise to some but it’s not the only unexpected story the Owyhee Hotel has to offer. In 1940, when much of American life was segregated – both officially and unofficially – the Owyhee Hotel became the site of a civil rights struggle. Marian Anderson, the world-famous contralto and Civil Rights icon who had performed before an integrated crowd of 75,000 less than a year earlier at the Lincoln Memorial, was invited to sing in Boise. The only problem was figuring out a place for her to stay. Three Boise hotels refused to lodge Anderson due to her race, but the Owyhee finally relented under one condition, that she enter through the back entrance used by the staff and eat in her room.
The Owyhee Hotel eventually closed, and the building found new life through renovations and reuse. But a piece of its original grandeur survives. The stained-glass dome that once greeted hotel guests still exists and you can see it today on display at the Idaho State Museum.
The America 250: Short Histories of Boise Project is brought to you in collaboration with the City of Boise’s Department of Arts & History; with support from Boise State University’s History 502 class; and music provided by the City of Boise’s Cultural Ambassador, the Boise Philharmonic. The music, John Williams' "Liberty Fanfare," was recorded by the Boise Phil in 2025.
For a full schedule of city-sponsored America 250 events, visit City of Boise America 250 and for events and programs across the state, visit America 250 in Idaho.
References:
“All in Readiness For Opening.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), May 8, 1910: 2. NewsBank.
Arrington, Leonard J. History of Idaho: Volume 1. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho Press; Boise, Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, 1994.
Etlinger, Charles. “Black roots go deep in Idaho.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), February 16, 1987: 1, 8. NewsBank.
“Fifty Dollars For a Name.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), April 2, 1909: 4. NewsBank.
“General Invitation Given.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), May 2, 1910: 4. NewsBank.
Hart, Arthur. “Elegant Owyhee Hotel first opened doors in 1910.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), November 28, 2006: Life, 03. NewsBank.
Hart, Arthur. “Ornate dome of Owyhee Hotel finds home at state museum.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), January 17, 1983: 20. NewsBank.
Hart, Arthur. “Owyhee Hotel opened in May 1910.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), April 4, 2010: Life, 4. NewsBank.
Idaho Architecture Project. “Owyhee Plaza Hotel.” Idaho Architecture Project. Accessed December 14, 2025. https://www.idahoarchitectureproject.org/properties/owyhee-plaza-hotel/.
Idaho State Historical Society. “The Name ‘Owyhee’.” Idaho State Historical Society Reference Series. August 1964. Accessed January 15, 2026. https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/0036.pdf.
“Key of Owyhee Consigned to Flames and Doors of Hotel Thrown Open for all Time.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), May 10, 1910: [1], 3, 4. NewsBank.
National Park Service. “Case Study: Owyhee Hotel, Boise, Idaho.” National Park Service. Accessed. December 14, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/articles/owyhee-hotel-case-study.htm.
National Park Service. “Fort Boise Site: Oregon National Historic Trail.” National Park Service. Accessed January 15, 2026. https://www.nps.gov/places/fort-boise-site.htm#:~:text=Fort%20Boise%20was%20managed%20by,Wildlife%20Management%20Area%20(WMA).
“New Hotel Named ‘The Owyhee’.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), April 15, 19091: 2, 5. NewsBank.
Oland, Dana. “You asked: ‘What happened to the Hawaiians who once lived in Idaho?’ Here’s your answer.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), December 6, 2018. NewsBank.
River Street Digital History Project. “Terrell Reminiscences.” River Street Digital History Project. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://www.riverstreethistory.com/multi-racial-river-street/terrell-reminiscences/.
“Some Idaho Woman Can Win $50.00 Prize.” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), April 2, 1909: [3]. NewsBank.
Webb, Anna. “150 Boise icons to celebrate the city’s sesquicentennial: Owyhee Hotel (Plaza).” Idaho Statesman, (Boise, ID), June 11, 2013. NewsBank.
United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. “African American Civil Rights in Idaho.” Form prepared by Jill K. Gill, PhD. Accessed January 30, 2026. https://history.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/ID_African-American-Civil-Rights-in-Idaho-MPDF_form.pdf.
