Glimpse of Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and the most populous city of the State of Idaho. Boise was given its name after French-Canadian trappers first explored the area after crossing the arid desert plains. Finding green trees at the site, primarily cottonwoods along the river, they named it boisé (meaning "wooded"). Boise has consequently been given the nickname City of Trees.

The original Fort Boise was 40 miles west, down the Boise River, near the confluence with the Snake River at the Oregon border. This fort was erected by the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1830s. It was abandoned in the 1850s, but massacres along the Oregon Trail prompted the U.S. Army to re-establish a fort in the area in 1863, during the U.S. Civil War. The new location was selected because it was near the intersection of the Oregon Trail and a major road connecting the Boise Basin (Idaho City) and the Owyhee mining areas, both booming at the time.

Idaho City was the largest city in the area, but the new Fort Boise grew rapidly (as a staging area to Idaho City) and Boise was incorporated as a city in 1864. The first capital of Idaho was Lewiston, but Boise replaced it in 1865. As of the 2000 census, Boise's population was 185,787. According to the 2005 Census estimates, the city proper had an estimated population of 193,161. Downtown Boise is at an elevation of 2704 feet above sea level.

Boise is the headquarters for several major companies, such as Washington Group International (successor to Morrison Knudsen), Micron Technology, Albertsons (a major supermarket chain now owned by SuperValu), the J.R. Simplot Company and Hewlett Packard's printer division. Other major industries are headquartered in Boise or have large manufacturing facilities there. High Tech industries are becoming increasingly vital to Boise's economy. State government is one of the city's main employers, as it is the capital city for Idaho and home of Boise State University. Boise is the county seat of Ada County and the principal city of the Boise metropolitan area, the Treasure Valley.

Boise has grown considerably in recent years and is now comparable in size to other midsize cities at the center of their own metropolitan areas in the United States such as Grand Rapids, Des Moines, Tulsa, and Providence.