Nampa had its beginnings in the early 1880s when the
Oregon Short Line Railroad built a line from
Granger, Wyoming, to
Huntington, Oregon, that passed through Nampa. In Nampa there is a history museum that marks the railroad's significance. More railroad lines sprang up through Nampa, making it an important
railroad town. Alexander and Hannah Duffes established one of the town's first homesteads, eventually forming the Nampa Land and Improvement Company with the help of their friend and co-founder, James McGee. Despite the name, many early settlers called the town "New Jerusalem" because of its citizens' strong religious focus. After only a year the town grew from 15 homes to 50. As amenities were added, Nampa continued to grow, and it was incorporated in 1891. Downtown Nampa's street grid is oriented with the railroad tracks, which run northwest–southeast; As the Oregon Short Line railroad originally bypassed
Boise, Nampa has the fanciest of many
railroad depots built in the area. Nampa gained attention in 1889 due to a purported archaeological discovery known as the
Nampa figurine.
George Frederick Wright wrote up details that year for the
Boston Society of Natural History. The first
elementary school was built in the 1890s. Lakeview School was on a hill on 6th Street and 12th Avenue North, with a view of Lake Ethel. Just after the school's centennial celebration, it was condemned as a school and sold to the
First Mennonite Church. In 2008 the building was refurbished, and it is now used by the Idaho Arts Charter School. Lake Ethel, an irrigation reservoir, had long been the site of community picnics, and many citizens fished, swam, boated, and even hunted on it and its surrounding property. But the hunting didn't last long, as O. F. Persons, owner of the adjoining homestead, took offense when local hunters started shooting his pet ducks. The city later auctioned off the lake. E. H. Dewey (a former Nampa mayor) was the only bidder. But occasional flooding led to a series of lawsuits from neighbors. Dewey eventually drained Lake Ethel. Not long after, the city council became interested in buying back the Fritz Miller property as well as the Dewey home. Pressure had been building for more than four years. Nampa citizens wanted another park. On August 7, 1924, the city council passed an ordinance to purchase the Miller property and name it Lakeview Park. A bandstand was completed in 1928, and the municipal swimming pool opened on August 13, 1934. It is Nampa's largest park and many community celebrations are held there. Colonel William H. Dewey, a man who made a fortune mining in
Silver City, built the Dewey Palace Hotel in 1902 for $250,000. He died in his hotel in 1903, leaving his son $1 million. The hotel survived the great fire of 1909, which burned several blocks of downtown Nampa, but was razed in 1963 after redevelopment plans failed. Relics from the hotel such as the chandelier and the hotel safe can be found at the Canyon County Historical Museum, which is in the old train depot on Front Street and Nampa City Hall. After demolition the location on First Street between 11th and 12th Ave. South was sold to private enterprise, including a bank and tire store, replacing this building with modern structures. A public-use postage stamp sized park was later placed across the street from the old palace property as a collaboration between the Downtown Alliance of Nampa (the local business council) and an Eagle Scout Project for the Boy Scouts of America. The park includes a large mural/wall sculpture of running horses commissioned for the project. A
Carnegie library was built downtown in 1908; it burned down after the library moved in 1966.
Nampa Public Library was then on the corner of 1st Street and 11th Avenue South in the old bank building. A new library, on 12th Avenue South, opened in 2015. Deer Flat Reservoir, an offstream irrigation storage reservoir, was constructed by the
United States Bureau of Reclamation between 1906 and 1911. Known locally as
Lake Lowell, it is surrounded by the
Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1909 by President
Theodore Roosevelt. The refuge is administered by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lake Lowell is filled by the concrete New York Canal; the water is diverted from the
Boise River a few miles below
Lucky Peak Dam. In 1910, the Idaho State School and Hospital was built northwest of Nampa for the state's
developmentally challenged population. It opened in 1918. The institution was largely self-sufficient, with a large farm staffed by the residents. The higher-functioning residents also cared for residents who could not care for themselves. The land for the farm was sold and is now golf courses (Centennial and Ridgecrest), and the residents no longer give primary care to other residents. The institution is modernized and remains in operation, though a few of the oldest buildings now house juvenile offenders. Nampa held an annual
harvest festival and
farmers' market from about 1908, a time of celebration and community fun. From this festival emerged the
Snake River Stampede Rodeo in 1937, which continues to this day. It is one of the top 12
rodeos in the pro rodeo circuits. In 1913, a local congregation of the
Church of the Nazarene built a small elementary school, which became to Northwest Nazarene College in 1915 and finally
Northwest Nazarene University. As of 2025, the university has approximately 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students.
Karcher Mall opened in 1965, the first enclosed shopping mall in the
Treasure Valley. It was "the place to gather" for several decades until the
Boise Towne Square mall was built in Boise in 1988, drawing business away. Karcher Mall was renamed District 208 in 2022.
The Idaho Press-Tribune is the local newspaper for the
Canyon County area. ==Geography==