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On October 7, 1891, The College of Idaho held its first class for two students inside a Presbyterian church. Since that historic day, the College has grown to 1,000 students while continuing to build upon the mantra of founding President William Judson Boone: “Let them come, let them all come, and we will see what they can do.”
The College’s innovative curriculum at its essence is a modern way of delivering the broad, liberal arts education that was championed by Boone. The author of the College’s official history account “The College of Idaho 1891-1991: A Centennial History,” Dr. Louie Attebery ’50 affirmed that Boone’s life and interests, which included being president of the College for its first 44 years, mirrored the liberal arts core and it’s blend of humanities and sciences. Part scientist, part photographer, part clergy member, part historian, Boone was the original College of Idaho Way.
“What he was doing was putting together in an imaginative and creative way, the way he was educated,” Attebery said. “He was able to harmonize his scientific impulses with the humanities approach given to him … by way of the Presbyterian church.”
“You get your philosophy, your history, your science, your mathematics, your languages,” he continued. “All you have to do is continue to sell it. It may be refined, it may have another public relations tag from time to time, but the essence is steady.”
“The College has been this way since its founding. It’s been called different things, and different things were stressed from time to time, but it’s no different from the education I received and the education my students received,” Attebery said.
It would have made sense that Attebery, an English student who graduated with honors from the College in 1950, would have had many literature-centered mentors. Yet one of the first he speaks of is legendary biology professor Dr. Lyle Stanford, demonstrating the importance of a cross-disciplinary focus to feed the entire being.
“Why be human if you can’t be totally human?” Attebery asks. “And being totally human means that you accept mathematics, you accept physics, you accept chemistry, but it’s all part of what people do and what’s good for them. You begin with the fact that they’re human, and then you try not to spoil it but to develop it, to let it grow.”
The College of Idaho is known for its outstanding academic programs, winning athletics tradition, and history of producing successful graduates, including eight Rhodes Scholars, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, an Academy Award-winning composer, three governors, four NFL players, two Major League Baseball players, and countless business leaders and innovators.
Dr. William Judson Boone presided over the school as its president for 45 years before his death in 1936 and his impact and legacy are still prominent on the campus today.
Dr. Louie Attebery ’50, the author of the College’s official history account “The College of Idaho 1891-1991: A Centennial History,” continues to endorse its modern curriculum. “The shape may be somewhat different, but the content is solid and enduring.”
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“That Man Boone” is the authorized biography of Dr. William Judson Boone written by Dr. Herbert H. Hayman. “It was said of Dr. Boone that ‘all who knew him loved him,’ and that he was full of the ‘milk of human kindness.’”
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Since 1925, the College has also awarded more than 250 honorary degrees, including J.A. & Kathryn Albertson, Velma Morrison, Cecil Andrus, Phil Batt, J.R. Simplot, Lord Halifax, Alan Dershowitz, and Mike Shines
Explore MoreWilliam Judson Boone was the first president of The College of Idaho. In addition to his work as a college president, he was a Presbyterian minister, botanist, teacher, "custodian" of the college grounds, husband and father. Not lacking for free time, Boone decided to chronicle all of the aforementioned activities in pictures. The photographs of W. J. Boone, taken during the late 1800s until his death in 1936, establish a visual history of Caldwell and its surrounding areas. Dr. Boone, through his photographs, documented the construction of the College of Idaho, Caldwell and Arrowrock Dam. His panoramic pictures, often 6" high and 48" wide, are excellent portrayals of landscapes, people, and places of interest during the early 1900s.
The archives is home to the personal papers of Governor Robert E. Smylie. Robert Smylie received his college education at the College of Idaho, graduating with an A.B. in 1938. He received a law degree from George Washington University in 1942. He enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard Reserve in 1942 and married Lucille C. Irvine on December 4, 1943. Returning to Idaho after the war he became Assistant Attorney General in 1947 and in the same year was elected Idaho Attorney General, holding that office until 1954. Robert Smylie was elected Governor in 1954 and served for three consecutive terms.
This collection includes the legislative papers of Senator Symms: U. S. House of Representatives 1972-1980, U. S. Senate 1980-1992.
A TOTAL OF SEVEN of Idaho’s 32 governors have had close ties to The College of Idaho. Two have been graduates, two were former faculty members, and three served as trustees.
FRANK STEUNENBERG (1861-1905) of Caldwell served two terms as Idaho’s fourth governor. Steunenberg was on the first faculty at the C of I, having been drafted by founder Dr. William Judson Boone in the fall of 1891.
JOHN T. MORRISON (1860-1915), was another Caldwellite who had been on Dr. Boone’s first faculty at the C of I. He served as Idaho's sixth governor.
H.C. BALDRIDGE (1869-1947) of Parma, a chairman of the C of I board of trustees for a dozen years, was Idaho’s 14th governor, serving two terms from 1927 to 1931.
ROBERT E. SMYLIE, a member of the Class of 1938, was the first alumnus of the C of I to be elected governor. The 23rd governor, Smylie (1914-2004) served three consecutive four-year terms (1955-1967), the first Idaho governor to do so.
CECIL D. ANDRUS, born in Oregon in 1931, another former chairman of the C of I’s board of trustees, was the longest-serving governor of Idaho. First elected as Idaho’s 25th governor in 1970 and reelected in 1974, Andrus resigned in 1977 to become Secretary of the Interior for four years during the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Andrus returned to Idaho and was elected to a third term as governor in 1986. He was reelected to an unprecedented fourth term in 1990.
PHILIP E. BATT, becoming Idaho’s 29th chief executive in 1995. Also a former state legislator, state senator, and lieutenant governor, Batt served as a C of I trustee from 1974 to 1982.
C.L. "BUTCH" OTTER, Idaho’s 32nd governor, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the College of Idaho in 1967. Otter, born in Caldwell in 1942, served four terms as Idaho's Lieutenant Governor - longer than anyone in Idaho history. He served in the Idaho House of Representatives for two terms (1973-1976). He served three terms in Congress representing Idaho's 1st District (2000-2006).
Enjoy a rare film from The College of Idaho’s “Founder’s Day” Celebration from 1927, which includes the only known film of the College’s founder, Dr. William Judson Boone.
We welcome you to experience our campus — from the passion and originality emanating from every corner, to how we reimagine higher education, to the adventures calling from the nearby mountains — and see what you could become.
2112 Cleveland Blvd, Caldwell, ID 83605
208-459-5011 • 800-2C-IDAHO