Boise County Courthouse 1871

This building was begun in July of 1871 and completed three months later. This was no small task considering the degree of fire protection employed. The great iron folding doors, each weighing half a ton, were made in San Francisco, barged up the Columbia River, and carried overland by horse and ox teams. Three feet of packed earth filled the attic space, once estimated to weight about 200 tons. Local clay bricks and mortar finished the walls.

It began as a general store, then a hardware and trinket shop, and then became the Orchard Hotel. The original courthouse on Montgomery Street was deteriorating, and during Mose Kempner’s trial it became obvious there was need for a new one. It had been built with enough room between the floorboards to accommodate tobacco chewers, but Kempner reportedly chewed up and spit out a note that was being passed around as evidence against him. Hence the county bought the Orchard Hotel in 1909. The building’s interior has been remodeled to replicate those earlier days and court is still in session several days a week.