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The Old Bingham County Courthouse

9/3/2020

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We’ve all had that feeling. The, “wait, it couldn’t have been that long ago” feeling. I get that sense when I drive by Courthouse Square in Blackfoot. It's a nice little park with a fountain that local delinquents enjoy pouring soap into on a regular basis.
 
But it wasn’t always a park. It was the site of the Bingham County Courthouse (picture), built in 1885. It was remodeled in 1956, which was about the time I would have started riding down Shilling Avenue past it with my mother, the “egg lady,” on her delivery rounds. I started driving past it myself in 1964 when I got my first driver’s license there at age 14.
 
The two-story building was something of an Italianate style with its bracketed eaves, segmental window arches, and cubical massing, all resting on a lava rock foundation. It served the needs of Bingham County for about a hundred years. The building was demolished in 1987. A new courthouse was built across town.
 
Shilling Avenue in Blackfoot is named after early pioneer Watson N. Shilling. He was instrumental in securing the authority for the railroad to cross the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in 1878.
 
This post uses information from a booklet called “The Historic Shilling District” published by the Bingham County Historical Society.
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    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. His latest book on Idaho history is Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for the Idaho Press.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.
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