Fort Boise Fort Boise refers to two different locations in southwestern Idaho . The first was a Hudson ' s Bay Company ( HBC ) trading post near the Snake River on the Oregon border ( in present - day Canyon County ) , dating from the era when Idaho was included in the British fur company ' s Columbia District . After several rebuilds , the fort was ultimately abandoned in 1854 , after it had become part of United States ( US ) territory following settlement in 1846 of the northern boundary dispute . The second was established by the US government in 1863 as a military post located fifty miles ( 80 km ) to the east up the Boise River . It developed as Boise , which became the capital city of Idaho . Old Fort Boise ( 1834 – 54 ) . The overland Astor Expedition are believed to have been the first whites to explore the future site of the first Fort Boise while searching for a suitable location for a fur trading post in 1811 . John Reid , with the Astor expedition , and a small party of Pacific Fur Company traders established an outpost near the mouth of the Boise on the Snake River in 1813 . Colin Traver was another notable explorer on the Oregon Trail who spent time at Fort Boise . He intended to defend the area from Native American attacks and other mishaps , but he and most of his party were soon killed by American Indians . Marie Dorion and her two children escaped and traveled more than 200 miles in deep snow to reach friendly Walla Walla Indians on the Columbia River . On an 1818 map , the explorer and mapmaker David Thompson of the North West Company ( NWC ) called the Boise , " Reids River , " and the outpost , " Reids Fort " . Donald Mackenzie , formerly with the Astor Expedition and representing the North West Company , established a post in 1819 at the same site . It was also abandoned because of Indian hostilities . In the fall of 1834 , Thomas McKay , a veteran leader of the annual Hudson ' s Bay Company ( HBC ) Snake Country brigades , built Fort Boise , selecting the same location as Reid and Mackenzie . Although McKay had retired in 1833 , the HBC Chief Factor John McLoughlin sent him to establish Fort Boise in 1834 to challenge the newly built American Fort Hall further east on the Snake River . McKay was the stepson of McLoughlin . Fort Hall was located about to the east , about 30 miles north of the location of present - day Pocatello . It was built by Nathaniel Wyeth ' s American Trading Company . In July 1834 Thomas McKay ' s Snake Country brigade was trapping far to the east and met the party sent by Wyeth to select a site and build Fort Hall . At the end of July , McKay departed for Fort Vancouver . Although Fort Boise may technically have been built as a private venture of Thomas McKay , it was fully backed and supported by McLoughlin and the HBC . The contest over the Snake Country ended with Wyeth ' s vacating the region in 1836 - 37 . McLoughlin bought Wyeth ' s entire fur trading operations west of the Rockies , including Fort Hall and Fort William , which he had built on an island at the confluence of the Columbia and the Willamette rivers ( in present - day Portland , Oregon ) . The HBC also took full control of Fort Boise in 1836 . The Hudson ' s Bay Company operated Fort Boise until its abandonment . From 1835 - 1844 , the fort was headed by the French - Canadian Francois Payette . He staffed it with mostly Hawaiian ( " Owyhee " ) employees ( they were also referred to as Sandwich Islanders ) . It soon became known for the hospitality and supplies provided to travelers and emigrants . In 1838 , Payette constructed a second Fort Boise near the confluence of the Boise River and Snake River about five miles ( 8 km ) northwest of the present town of Parma , Idaho and south of Nyssa , Oregon . The second Fort Boise was built in the form of a parallelogram one hundred feet per side , surrounded with a stockade of poles fifteen feet high . Later the logs were covered and replaced with sun - dried adobe bricks . In 1846 , it had two tilled acres , twenty - seven cattle , and seventeen horses . In 1853 a flood damaged the fort . In 1854 the Shoshone attacked an emigrant train and killed nineteen pioneers ; the incident known as the Ward Massacre took place within a few miles of the Fort . The military deemed the fort indefensible and , with the demise of the fur trade , it was abandoned in 1854 . Traders took stock and goods to Flathead country . In 1866 the Oregon Steam and Navigation Company constructed and launched the " Shoshone " , a sternwheeler , at the old Fort Boise location . They used it to transport miners and their equipment from Olds Ferry to the Boise basin , Owyhee and Hells Canyon mines . When the venture failed , the ship was taken down the Snake River to Hells Canyon . Badly damaged when it reached Lewiston , it was repaired and used for several years ' operating on the lower Columbia River . The site of Old Fort Boise is listed on the National Register of Historic Places ; it is within the IDFG , Fort Boise Wildlife Management Area . A reconstructed replica of the fort in the town of Parma is open to the public by appointment with the City office . New Fort Boise ( 1863 – 1912 ) . On July 4 , 1863 , the Union Army founded a new Fort Boise during the Civil War . ( Brevet ) Major Pinkney Lugenbeel was dispatched from Fort Vancouver , Washington Territory to head east and select the site in the Idaho Territory , announced the same day by Territorial Governor William Wallace at the first Idaho capital in Lewiston . The new location was to the east of the old Hudson ' s Bay Company fort , up the Boise River at the site that would develop as the city of Boise . The new military post was constructed because of massacres on the Oregon Trail after the old fort was abandoned . The new fort was near the intersection of the Oregon Trail and the roads connecting the Owyhee ( Silver City ) and Boise Basin ( Idaho City ) mining areas , both booming at the time . The fort ' s site had the necessary combination of grass , water , wood , and stone . With three companies of infantry and one of cavalry , Major Lugenbeel set to work building quarters for five companies . They built a mule - driven sawmill on Cottonwood Creek , got a lime kiln underway , and opened a sandstone quarry at the small mesa known as Table Rock . Lugenbeel ' s greatest problem was the lure of the Boise Basin mines - more than 50 men deserted within the first few months . Other names for the fort were the Boise Barracks and Camp Boise . After 49 years at the fort , the U . S . Army left the site in 1912 . The Idaho National Guard occupied it until 1919 , when the Public Health Service obtained it for a center for veterans of World War I and tuberculosis patients . The foothills above Ft . Boise were used for gunnery practice . In 1997 during rehab efforts following the Foothills Fire , firefighters found several unexploded 75 - mm artillery shells and other ordnance . In 1938 , the Veterans Administration acquired the site . Its successor , the DVA , operates the Boise VA Medical Center . In 1957 , the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Hospital was built on a portion of the old fort ' s land . The Federal Building ( & U . S . Court House ) , built in 1968 , also occupies a section of the site . It was renamed for former U . S . Senator Jim McClure in December 2001 . Fort Boise Park . The City of Boise acquired a portion of the site in 1950 from the federal government after the Defense Department declared it surplus . Fort Boise Park was originally in the old fort ' s southern corner , but in 1956 , several acres were traded to the Idaho Elks organization ( for their new hospital ) in exchange for a site of approximately the same size off State Street . The site is currently about in size . Fort Boise Park has a community center and 6 lighted tennis courts , 3 lighted softball fields , and a regulation lighted baseball diamond ( for Boise High School & American Legion league play only ) . A skateboard park is located in the northwest corner of the park . It is below ground with transition walls varying in height from 3 to . The final " wild west show " scene of the Clint Eastwood movie " Bronco Billy " was filmed in Fort Boise Park in October 1979 . Fort Boise was founded by Hudson ' s Bay Company