Nampa Idaho City Information

Local History

Nampa is located on the Snake River plain that crosses, from east to west, the south end of the State of Idaho. This is considered a high desert area with most of the moisture occurring and collecting in the surrounding mountains and then being transferred into the valley by creeks, streams and rivers. These waterways provide the irrigation water used by farmers across the entire south end of the state. A large, manmade, irrigation water reservoir is located a few miles west of Nampa. It was first called Deer Flat reservoir but is currently called Lake Lowell. It was constructed between 1906 and 1911 by the Federal reclamation service. The lake is surrounded by the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge established in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt. It is still administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service today. This lake is fed by the New York Canal that diverts water from the Boise River east of Boise, and eventually returns any unused water to the Snake River. The lake is used for irrigation, recreation, wildlife conservation and is a favored view for upscale homes built on the hillsides overlooking it. This system of irrigation canals and holding reservoirs, that divert river water, have been and are still the key to the large agricultural industrial sector of Canyon County and the State of Idaho at large.

Prior to being a city, Nampa was located along the Oregon Trail that pointed west toward the convergence of the Snake and Boise Rivers and the Oregon Territory that was just across the Snake River in this location. When the Oregon Short Line Railroad, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, was constructed from Granger,Wyoming to Huntington, Oregon, following generally the Oregon Trail, in about 1883 and came through what is now Nampa, the location sprang to life.  Small communities sprang up all along the railroad from east to west across the southern end of the state and Nampa was one of these communities. The Oregon Short Line Railroad bypassed Boise but in 1887, the Idaho Central Railway was built connecting these two lines which occurred at Nampa’s current location. Later other lines were connected at Nampa to bring in silver from what is now Owyhee County to the west and to connect agricultural projects throughout the area. This made the Nampa location a railroad hub even before Idaho was made a state in 1890. Nampa was incorporated, as a city in 1890 just after Idaho became a state. That same year several diversion canals were completed that brought almost 300,000 acres of prime farmland on line. This small community started with a bang and has never looked back since. It has had positive average growth since then and is now one of the jewels of the “Treasure Valley”.

Nampa is part of the greater Boise economic region of Southwest Idaho, referred to as the “Treasure Valley” due to its agriculturally based wealth made possible by irrigation and mild climate. Nampa is part of the Boise Metro area that now has the greatest concentration of people between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon. Nampa is located about 19 miles west of Boise and though having its own economic and industrial base, primarily in agriculture, has become a major satellite or bedroom community location for the Boise market. This change came primarily through the introduction of clean industries, such as Hewlett Packard and Micron Technologies, in the last 20 years. Boise and the surrounding area’s have also become a hub for transportation and storage, higher education, communication call centers, medical services and most other major demographic factors that allow clean and sustained growth.

Nampa is located in Canyon County. It is the largest city in the county and the second largest in the state at about 80,000 in population as of 2008. Nampa’s adjacent neighbor, Caldwell, the county seat of the county, is the second largest city in the County at about 40,000. These two cities are referred to as the “twin cities”, as they are adjacent to one another. The City governments are separate, but there is good cooperation between the twin communities in every aspect of physical and political infrastructure.

Nampa is home to what is now called Northwest Nazarene University that had its earlier roots with some of the founding fathers of the community. Because of the religious views of many of Nampa’s founding fathers and their attempt to keep out “drinking parlors” and other similar types of activities within the community it was referred to as the “New Jerusalem” for some time by both sides of these issues. Nampa has had some very colorful citizen’s right from the beginning. A good example would be the once mayor of Nampa, Colonel William H. Dewey. Colonel Dewey made a fortune mining silver in Silver City, Idaho to the east and seeing the advantage of four railroad lines intersecting in this location, built the elegant Dewey Palace Hotel in 1902 in downtown Nampa. This was called the best Hotel in the intermountain west for some time. Eventually it became dated and without renovation and investors, it became unusable. In 1963, it was razed to make way for a bank and a tire store. It was a terrible historic loss with only a few relics being saved from the structure for posterity to view along with some photographs. Nampa has a diverse history and rich heritage that has always played large in Southwest Idaho’s story.

Nampa’s population has almost tripled since 1990 when there were only 28,365 people in Nampa. The quality of its people, its natural resources and cheap available hydroelectric power from several dams in the region has made this, and continues to make this area, attractive to clean industry and to families wanting clean air and water in a low crime environment suited for healthy family lifestyles.

Nampa is currently revitalizing the old down town area, which is a common theme among southern Idaho communities, as the community transitions into the realities of the 21^st century. The grand train station has been converted into a museum and the old commercial district has been targeted in ways to attract small businesses and pedestrian traffic with many fine restaurants and professional office space. The main shopping areas have been moved to malls and shopping centers near the freeway on the edges of town. Nampa is also home to the Idaho Center and Snake River Stampede fair grounds that can host events from rodeo to professional sports teams and everything in between. Nampa has been one of the most progressive communities in Idaho in long-range planning and infrastructure development for future generations.

Whatever your reasons for coming to Nampa, it can be considered a good choice and one of the positive puzzle pieces that make up the “Treasure Valley” who’s real treasure has always been its people.

Climate

Nampa is part of a river valley that runs across southern Idaho at a relatively low elevation. This is a high desert area of low precipitation in the valleys and high rates of sunshine. Most snow fall occurs in the surrounding mountain ranges from November to February which fills the rivers, creeks and streams that run to the valley in the spring time as it melts. The valley does get some snow but on average it is light and infrequent.

Nampa’s climate is warm during summer when day time temperatures tend to be in the 80’s and 90’s and cold during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 30's. The cold months are November through February and the warmest months July and August. Temperature shifts from day to night can be extreme primarily during the hottest summer days that cool off after sunset. This is a full four season location with a comparatively mild climate proven ideal for farming, recreation and just living. The annual average precipitation at Nampa is 15.2 inches. Rainfall is distributed evenly throughout the year but on average is wetter during the spring and fall seasons. May is usually the wettest month on average at 1.67 inches.