Weiser, Idaho

Weiser (

The city was named after the nearby Weiser River, but exactly who that was named for is not precisely known. In one version it is for Peter M. Weiser, a soldier and member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806. Another has it for Jacob Weiser, a trapper-turned-miner who struck it rich in Baboon Gulch in the Florence Basin of Idaho in 1861.

William Logan and his wife Nancy were the first white settlers in the vicinity of Weiser in 1863 building a roadhouse in anticipation of the opening of Olds Ferry west of them on the Snake River across from Farewell Bend. In 1863, Reuben Olds acquired a franchise from the Territorial Legislature and began operating Olds Ferry.^[6] Olds ferry business did well (as did Logan's) as it diverted much of the traffic from the old Snake River crossing point at Old Fort Boise. Increasing settlement on the Weiser River valley increased Weiser's population. A post office was established in 1866 as Weiser Ranch. In 1871, it was renamed Weiser.^[7]

Weiser reached its height of prosperity when a railroad way station was established and it became a transportation hub for travelers. Its history is well represented by the great number of original buildings from the 1890s and early 1900s that are on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the 1890s, the city had pretensions of becoming a major regional market and transportation center. The Idaho Northern Railroad was built up the Weiser River with the intention of reaching Lewiston and river transportation to the ocean. The dream ended among the lumber mills of central Idaho almost at the community of Meadows... not needing to actually go past the stock loading and lumber ponds outside the village, the terminus station was built there and a new city, New Meadows, came into being. Likewise the Union Pacific, after taking over the Oregon Short Line chose not to locate its major section yards in the flats west of Weiser—probably due to inflated prices asked by land speculators—and built at Huntington, Oregon at the western edge of the Snake River valley.

U.S. Route 95 runs through the city, connecting to Oregon and British Columbia.

Culture

Weiser bills itself as the "Fiddling Capital of the World" and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest has been held each year since 1953. Fiddling contests have been held in Weiser since 1914, but the present festival was the idea of Blaine Stubblefield, a fiddler and folk music collector, and the head of the city's chamber of commerce.^[9] The festival is held at the beginning of summer, during the third full week in June, the only exception occurring during leap years when it is held on the 4th week of the month. It draws national media coverage and over 7,000 people to the Weiser area.

The city has been consistently served by the Weiser Signal-American, the local weekly newspaper.

For many years Weiser's location as the last city upriver from

Geography

Weiser is located at 44°14′59″N 116°58′4″W / 44.24972°N 116.96778°W / 44.24972; -116.96778 (44.249712, -116.967799),

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.38 square miles (8.75 km²), all of it land.^[11]

Unincorporated Annex, Oregon, sits across the Snake River.

Climate

Weiser experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cold winters and hot, dry summers.

Economy

As of 2018^[update] employment at the hospital and school system includes jobs which have university education as a prerequisite, but not many other jobs in Weiser have that requirement.^[15]

Demographics

2020 census

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,630 people, 2,101 households, and 1,349 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the

There were 2,158 households, of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 35.3% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.11.

The median age in the city was 38.7 years. 26.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.7% were from 25 to 44; 24.3% were from 45 to 64; and 18.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female.

2000 census

As of the

There were 2,018 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 28.3% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,880, and the median income for a family was $31,996. Males had a median income of $26,643 versus $16,386 for females. The

Education

It is in the

The first school in Weiser was established in 1867, and the first school building was built in 1882. A dedicated building for the high school opened in 1904. During or after the 1890s Weiser Academy a.k.a. Intermountain Institute, a 750-acre (300 ha) boarding school, was established by a preacher named Edward Paddock. The National Youth Administration (NYA) took a part of the boarding school facility in the 1930s after Paddock experienced old age and ill health. In 1948 the whole boarding school property was given to the high school.^[20]

Washington County is in the area (but not the taxing region) of the College of Western Idaho, which has its main campus in Nampa.^[21]

Notable people

• Roger Batzel, Director (1971–1988) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• 1946
• Walter Johnson, Hall of Fame Baseball player
• Bob Martyn, baseball player
• Harold Ryan – U.S. District Judge – District of Idaho (1981–1995)
• Kevin Sharp, country singer
• Blaine Stubblefield, country singer, poet
• U.S. Senator
  from Idaho (1951–57)
• Tim Wrightman, Super Bowl XX Champion as a member of the 1985 Chicago Bears
• M. C. Richards, poet, potter, educator

References