C.W. Moore Park is tucked into an inconspicuous quarter block of downtown Boise. But don’t let the 0.28-acre footprint fool you: it gives more and more the closer you look.
- The little canal that spans the southern bounds of the park, along Grove Street, is from 1866, two years after Boise was founded as a city.
- The waterwheel on the canal is symbolic of the engineering that elevated water from the river onto the surrounding lands, making widespread irrigation possible.
- According to the city’s history page on the park, many of the other park features were originally part of buildings torn down in the 1970s.
- Those include several name stones from downtown buildings, and an arch from the Bush Building that originally stood at the location of the current city hall.
Named after Christopher W. Moore, whose determination to develop geothermal energy benefits us to this day (and also brought us the Natatorium), the park offers a little bite of history, right next to a busy stretch of bars and restaurants.