Old Idaho State Penitentiary

 

The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States, east of Boise, Idaho. The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870; the territory was seven years old when the prison was built, a full two decades before statehood.

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; the elevation of the site is approximately 2,770 feet (845 m) above sea level.

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 husband’s to collect upon their life insurance.

 

Here is a local business that supports the community

Google Map- 

Happy Hooves Oasis
540 Camin Del Paso
Leakey,  Texas 78873

(432) 216-4788

Be sure to check out this attraction too!