MSS 187
East End Neighborhood Association records, 1966-2001
- ca. 5 ft. (in 9 boxes)
- Finding aid online
Boise’s East End is one of the city’s oldest residential neighborhoods. In 1891, businessman and banker C. W. Moore built a 3 story home with 10 bedrooms on Warm Springs Avenue. Soon, other Boise prosperous citizens moved nearby, building fine homes and mansions, many of them heated by the natural hot water of the area. The homes remain today as evidence of city’s architectural heritage. More modest homes north of Warm Springs Avenue are examples of the traditional cottage and bungalow-style homes built in the early 1900s.
In 1979, the East End Neighborhood Association was created in response to proposed construction of 24 town houses within this long-established area. The united homeowners designed an East End Neighborhood Plan, to retain the “single family neighborhood.” Focusing on more than residential development, the plan proposed recommendations for transportation, schools, parks, water use, etc., in order to preserve “an efficient system of public and private facilities.” The group was incorporated in 1983 and remains active in 2002. This collection addresses the continual challenges to the Association's plan through out the 1980s and 1990s as it attempted to "maintain the character of the East End."
In 2001, Betty Foster, former President of the East End Neighborhood Association, donated her association papers to Boise State University's Special Collections. Jay King gave additional documents from his term as a member of the association's board. The collection includes minutes, correspondence, publications, and newspaper articles. Much of the material is concerned with proposals to build homes on Castle Rock rim above the established East End neighborhood.