Old Idaho State Penitentiary
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Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site
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A facade of the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
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| Location | 2200 Warm Springs Ave., Boise, Idaho |
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| Coordinates | 43°36′10″N 116°9′45″W / 43.60278°N 116.16250°WCoordinates: 43°36′10″N 116°9′45″W / 43.60278°N 116.16250°W |
| Area | 510 acres (210 ha) |
| Built | 1870-1872 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Romanesque |
| NRHP Reference # | 74000729 |
| Added to NRHP | July 17, 1974 |
The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States. The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870. The territory was less than ten years old when the prison was built east of Boise. From its beginnings as a single cell house, the penitentiary grew to a complex of several distinctive buildings surrounded by a 17-foot-high (5.2 m) sandstone wall. The stone was quarried from the nearby ridges by the resident convicts, who also assisted in later constructions.
The Old Idaho Penitentiary is operated by the Idaho State Historical Society.
Over its 101 years of operation, the penitentiary received more than 13,000 inmates, with a maximum population of a little over 600. Two hundred and fifteen of the inmates were women. Two famous inmates were Harry Orchard and Lyda Southard. Orchard assassinated former Governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905 and Southard was known as Idaho's Lady Bluebeard for killing several of her husbands to collect upon their life insurance. Two serious riots occurred in 1971 and 1973 over living conditions in the prison. The 416 resident inmates were moved to the newly built Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise and the Old Idaho Penitentiary was closed on December 3, 1973.
In 1992, the Idaho State Historical Society recorded oral history interviews with fifteen former prison guards. These tapes and transcripts cover prison operations and remembrances from the 1950s to the closing of the prison. The collection is open for research at the society.
The Territorial Prison was completed in 1872 and received its first 11 inmates from the Boise County Jail. This building was converted into a Chapel in the 1930s and was destroyed by fire in the 1973 riot.
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