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Did you know?
Idaho's first potato grower was
not a farmer at all, but a Presbyterian
missionary named Henry Harmon Spalding.
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The Boise Bench
The neighborhood's quiet, tree-lined streets
shout of 1950s America, when society was much
more innocent and life less complicated.
Nearly one-fourth of Boise's residents live
in the Central Bench, a neighborhood with a
character unlike any other in the city. While
subdivisions in newer areas of the city are
carefully segregated between small houses and
big, in the Central Bench big homes stand next
to small, which stand next to medium, which
stand next to pastures. The result is a work
of art, an unpredictable collage.
Residential areas are strictly residential,
while retail developments are along major thoroughfares.
Those major thoroughfares include Overland Road,
Vista Avenue and Orchard Street, all among the
city's main arterials -- and all lined almost
exclusively with commercial development.
Three of Boise's most beautiful parks are located
in the Central Bench. Ann Morrison Park and
Kathryn Albertson Park are part of the renowned
riverside park system. But Platt Gardens is
perhaps the favorite of native Boiseans. The
park, located in front of the Boise Depot, provides
a spectacular nighttime view of the city. Development
along Capitol Boulevard has somewhat diminished
the view of the Capitol, but it still is impressive.
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