The Most Iconic Libraries in Idaho

Since the opening of the first subscription library in Colonial America in 1731, the hushed halls of American libraries have allowed people of all walks of life to access books and publications to enrich their knowledge and experience the magical worlds created by authors. Idaho carries on that tradition almost 300 years later, with a selection of historic Carnegie libraries, university libraries, and modern public libraries.

Whether you are drawn to historic architecture, love the peaceful environment, or long to lose yourself in fictional worlds created by your favorite authors, here are the most iconic libraries in Idaho that are worth discovering.

Coeur d'Alene Public Library

Coeur d’Alene is known as the playground of the Pacific Northwest, situated near the Washington state border and surrounded by forests and mountains. The Coeur d'Alene Public Library’s waterfront location overlooks Lake Coeur d'Alene and McEuen Park, adding to its peaceful ambience.

Although the current building was built in 2007, its rich history begins in 1905 when the Coeur d’Alene Women’s Club collected 235 donated books, which they reportedly carried away via wheelbarrow. The library’s initial site was no more than donated shelves at a local store until it moved to the City Hall. A second move to a donated building in 1945, followed by a move to the former offices of Louisiana Pacific and GTE in 1987, are testaments to the library’s continuous growth.

Today, the library is central to the community, offering a hub for researchers, avid readers, and children. Inclusive services range from free legal advice to student/business proctoring and notary services to checkable Chromebooks. Its most unique service is the True to Seed library, offering a collection of heirloom and homegrown vegetable, herb, and flower seeds donated by enthusiasts interested in restoring local varieties to the area.

A short walk takes you to the restored historic carousel that originally sat at Coeur d'Alene's Playland Pier from 1942 to 1974. The carousel is usually open throughout the summer, as well as on special occasions such as Halloween. You can ride the hand-carved 1922 Spillman Junior carousel or watch others riding atop beautifully painted horses or snuggled in its carriages.

Every second Friday of the month, over 20 Coeur d’ Alene downtown establishments join together to present 2nd Friday Artwalk with gallery openings, pop-up art displays, live music, shopping, food, and drink. It is a wonderful way to enjoy the full Coeur ’d’Alene experience and support local creatives, from artists to musicians and chefs to craft brew masters.

Moscow Public Library

Moscow is in the north-central area of Idaho, set against picturesque rolling hills. The Moscow Free Library and Reading Room has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. It is one of the last Carnegie-funded libraries built by a grant from noted Pittsburgh steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

In 1901 the library was a single room in Moscow’s Brown Building, offering access to visitors just two afternoons and evenings a week. In 1904, funding was raised to purchase a lot for a library building to be designed by Watson Vernon. The Mission Revival-style library was completed in 1906. A remodel in 1983 included the children’s Carol Ryrie Brink Reading Room and more than doubled the library space. Today, it is the headquarters of the Latah County Library District.

Along with traditional library services, Moscow Free Public Library features a quirky “Curiosity Collection” encompassing “non-traditional” items from a telescope to a selection of “learn-to” kits and techy gadgets to Itty Bitty Brain Boxes for kids.

The library shares Coeur D’Alene’s passion for seeds with the Palouse Exchange-a-Seed (P.E.A.S.) program. Community-centered outreach programs include early literacy programming for childcare centers, providing story times throughout Moscow.

If you love unique architecture, a visit to the McConnell Mansion might be of interest. The two-story house blends Victorian, Queen Anne, and Eastlake styles and features restored period-appropriate rooms spanning from the turn-of-the-century parlor to the 1930s kitchen with friendly tour guides to take you through the space.

You can also explore Third Street Gallery on the second and third floors of Moscow’s historic City Hall. James Knox Taylor designed the building in 1911, offering a perfect example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture. The gallery reflects civic life in the City of Moscow with local and regional works in a wide range of media and subject matter.

Marshall Public Library

Pocatello is located at the Portneuf Gap through the Blackfoot Mountains and is home to the Marshall Public Library. Another Carnegie benefactor, the library was formerly known as the Pocatello Carnegie Library. Built in 1907, it is a shining example of Palladian Villa architecture inspired by the renowned Italian architect Andrea Palladio, often thought of as the most important architect of the late 16th century.

The cornerstone contains a letter from Mr. Carnegie, the names of the mayor and city council members, 1907 coins, and local newspapers. An addition was built in 1993 to meet the growing needs of the community.

The library is filled with beautiful artwork, including photographs, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and prints from a diverse cross-section of artists on permanent loan from the Pocatello Arts Council. The Xeriscape Garden at Library Park is a waterwise garden installed in 2007, adjacent to the library. The mix of grasses, trees, and plants demonstrates how drought-tolerant gardens can save water while creating a peaceful landscape.

The library offers free Wi-Fi and on-site PCs for adults, homework computers for youth, and iPads for children. Their youth services go beyond books, allowing children to enjoy story time or experiment with music, movement, and activities. They even offer a collection of puppets available for checkout. Seniors appreciate their large-print and talking book collections, and people of all ages can join their many programs and events, from movie nights to book groups and craft classes to music.

Pocatello has a compelling history tied to the town’s namesake, Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone people. The Bannock County Historical Museum offers insights into the Shoshone people with a collection of Shoshoni and Bannock ethnographic photographs and objects as well as local archaeological specimens. You can also visit Chief Pocatello’s statue at the town’s visitor center.

Wallace Public Library

Located in Silver Valley, Wallace is the world’s largest silver producer and the richest mining town still in existence. The Wallace Public Library is one of four remaining fully restored and operating Carnegie Libraries in Idaho. The grant and land donated by the Northern Pacific Railroad provided funding to complete the Renaissance Neoclassic-style library in 1911.

The distinct low-pitched hipped roof, high basement with windows, and concrete steps leading to the portico’s ionic pillars give the brick building a grand look perfectly paired with the entrance’s beveled double glass doors and transoms. The library is now part of the InlandShare Library Group and offers comprehensive genealogy services with access to a microfilm library of printable newspapers dating back to 1887, Shoshone County census rolls from 1880 through 1920, and historical photographs.

The entire downtown is a designated historic district, lined with lovely architecture housing shops, museums, and eateries. Take a classic trolley ride through town on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour and experience hard-rock mining in an actual silver mine.

The town’s ties to beer date back to the “Big Burn” of 1910, when the mayor ordered citizens to drink beer for three days to avoid the ash-filled stream. Today, Wallace is home to several breweries, including Wallace Brewing. Their branding honors the shady side of the town with mining- and bordello-inspired names, all in good fun. Their Orehouse Tasting Room offers samples of their latest brews with a flirty nudge and a wink to the town’s notorious past. If you want to enjoy some grub with your beer, City Limits Brew Pub is the home of North Idaho Mountain Brew, where you can tuck into pub classics alongside their selection of craft beers.

Idaho Falls Public Library

Idaho Falls is the largest city in Eastern Idaho, located on the banks of the Snake River. The original Idaho Falls Public Library was built in 1916 with a distinct Renaissance Revival style to meet the standards of prominent local women seeking to improve the town’s appearance in the late 1800s. Known as the Village Improvement Society, they helped establish parks, plant trees, and move the town library from the basement of the Baptist church to a Carnegie-funded building. The library was remodeled in 1938 to accommodate the growing population. In 1977, the library was relocated, and the original building is now home to the Museum of Idaho.

The current library’s location has served the town well with an expansive layout of departments overlooking a central atrium lit by a glass dome streaming with natural light. It offers an extensive list of programs for children, teens, and adults, and creative events such as the period-inspired Jane Austen Ball. Ongoing reading challenges, bookmaking classes, and more keep the library central to the community. Extensive departments include an impressive selection of books across a wide range of genres and research topics, as well as digital resources.

The Museum of Idaho includes the original library and an impressive addition that encompasses a wide range of collections and experiences from the land’s first inhabitants through to today. The kids’ discovery room is an educational experience where kids are encouraged to climb mountains, crawl through caves, explore a tipi and a settler’s cabin, and experiment with interactive displays. Visiting exhibits change throughout the year, offering opportunities to discover everything from mummies to nostalgic collections from different eras.

The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho is a visual arts experience offering permanent collections and innovative featured exhibits installed in five galleries. The museum overlooks the Snake River along the greenbelt walkway, and there is always something new to discover.

University of Idaho Library

In 1892, the University of Idaho Library was nothing more than a single classroom in the Administration Building on the Moscow, Idaho campus. Today it is the largest library in Idaho, boasting over 1 million books and close to 10 thousand periodical subscriptions contained in a three-story, 89,606 square foot building. Built in 1957, the distinct modular construction was designed to accommodate flexible layouts to adapt to the library’s changing needs.

For over 100 years, the library has served as the official regional depository of U.S. federal government publications, which now includes close to two million documents. The Special Collections and Archives department specializes in archival research materials documenting the history and culture of the university and the state of Idaho. Collections include historical photographs, state documents, university historical materials, rare books, and digital collections. The International Jazz Collections is the premier jazz archive of the Pacific Northwest, featuring the papers, photographs, audio/visual materials, and artifacts from jazz legends such as Lionel Hampton, Leonard Feather, Lee Morse, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Collections such as the Marylyn Cork Priest River Historical Collection offer well-documented insights into aspects of specific eras, such as life in the timber industry, community life, and the cultural heritage of the “River Pigs” who worked the area during the logging era.

Just west of the Administration Building is one of the oldest university arboretums in the Western U.S. Shattuck Arboretum covers 14 acres, featuring hundreds of trees and shrubs planted by the founder of the university’s forestry program in 1910. Charles Shattuck’s goal was to turn a weedy hillside into a living classroom. The Arboretum serves as an educational space set against beautiful parkland graced with mature American Beech, English Maple, and California Incense-Cedar trees. A giant Sequoia planted in 1916 is one of the park’s most striking features.

The rest of the university’s campus is worth exploring, with its historic buildings and pockets of tree-lined green spaces. The 63-acre Arboretum and Botanical Garden is tucked into a scenic valley, offering a living museum of native and introduced plant species you can explore year-round. Hike the 1.4-mile main gravel road loop around the Arboretum, or follow several trails to spectacular views that reach as far as the Blue Mountains of Oregon on a clear day.

Albertsons Library

Boise is Idaho’s largest city and serves as the state capital along the Boise River. Albertsons Library is located at Boise State University, where it began as a 27-seat, 2,100-volume library at St. Margaret’s School in 1932. In 1940, it moved to an administration building with 4,500 books and room for 104 students. In 1964, the Boise Junior College library-classroom building, designed by Hummel, Hummel, and Jones, opened. Faculty, staff, and students formed a human chain to pass books from the old building to the new building.

The library originally occupied the first floor, and in 1968, a grant funded a second-floor expansion. As the student body grew, two more floors were added to create the Library Learning Center in the 1970s. In 1995, the library’s final expansion was completed. A $2 million endowment to include books on western life from Former Albertsons' executive Warren McCain and family led to the inclusion of the McCain Reading Room and renaming of the Library Learning Center to Albertsons Library.

Today, the 119,246 square foot, four-story library is a quiet, collaborative study space in the center of the campus with 600 seats, 60 public terminals, and 21 checkable laptops for student use. It offers state-of-the-art services, including online databases, eBooks, and public technology such as computers, scanners, and 3D printers, as well as audio/video equipment complete with green screens.

Collections offer access to millions of items, including print, e-journals, e-book platforms, government documents, online indexes, and databases, as well as streaming media from documentaries to feature films and educational media to music. Special collections include the McCain Collection for Western Life.

Downtown Boise is home to the northwest's largest open-air, multi-artist mural gallery between 8th and 9th streets and Bannock and Idaho. Dubbed “Freak Alley,” the murals and graffiti-inspired artwork cover the walls and doors along the alley, with new artwork added every year.

Garden City is a 4.2-square-mile urban enclave intersected by the Boise River. Named after the gardens tended by Chinese immigrants leasing the land, the diverse, eclectic area is the best spot to discover the local art, food, wine, and shopping scene. Grab a coffee at Push and Pour, satisfy sugar cravings with macrons from Flourish Bakery, sample wines at Split Rail, or enjoy a craft beer at Barbarian Brewing.

Public libraries should be cherished and supported in every community. Despite changing technology, libraries continue to serve an essential purpose in the heart of Idaho’s cities, towns, and neighborhoods. From seed-sharing programs to restore native plants to social programs to promote inclusiveness and hubs of collaboration and research to quiet sanctuaries filled with new discoveries, Idaho’s iconic libraries are a priceless resource filled with unique experiences.