Why Are There Old, Wooden Benches At The Modern Boise Airport?

On your next visit to Boise Airport, whether for your holiday travel or to pick up a loved one, you may notice something that looks out of place. In the middle of this modern, advanced travel center is an old wooden bench that looks like it came from the early 1900s.

Why are there old wooden benches at the Boise Airport?

Boise has always been proud of its history. Long before the Boise Airport became the central hub for travel in and out of the Treasure Valley, the Boise Depot was where the comings and goings happened. Completed in 1925, the Boise Depot was outfitted with wooden benches where travelers and those waiting for travelers would sit to wait patiently for an arriving or departing train.

Where did the wooden benches at Boise Airport come from?

Those old Boise Depot benches were moved to the Boise Airport as a part of the "Boise Airport Arts Master Plan," which is supposed to tell stories about Boise's history. Moving these benches into the Boise Airport from the Boise Depot connects travelers to Boise's unique history of mass transit.

Why are these benches at the Boise Airport?

Airports serve as cultural gateways to their cities and give a preview of what visitors might expect when it comes to local history, values, and aesthetics. Boise is deeply connected to the development of transportation, from the Oregon Trail to air travel. These benches create a tangible connection to the past.

When you sit on one of these benches at the Boise Airport, you join a history of people who sat on those very benches. Those people may have been major figures in the history of our city, state, or nation. These same benches were used at the Boise Depot during the height of rail travel. Celebrities, dignitaries, and politicians who may have stopped in Boise on their way to California or many other locations may have sat on that bench. Especially when Boise was a stop along the Portland Rose Line from Chicago to Seattle, connecting several major cities nationwide.