Moscow is the county seat of Latah County in northern Idaho, along the Washington/Idaho border. The city is the home of the University of Idaho, the land grant institution and primary research university for the state. Seven miles to the west is Pullman, Washington and Washington State University. While the University of Idaho is the dominant employer in Moscow, the city also serves as an agricultural and commercial hub for the Palouse region. The population was 21,291 at the 2000 census, with a 2007 estimate of 23,223. Moscow is the birthplace of Carol Ryrie Brink and singer Josh Ritter. Along with the rest of northern Idaho, Moscow resides in the Pacific Time Zone.

Moscow is the principal city of the Moscow, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Latah County.

Geography

Moscow is located at (46.731745, -116.997188).

The city of Moscow lies on the eastern edge of the Palouse region of North Central Idaho in the Columbia River Plateau. To the east of the city is a valley between the mountains of the Palouse Range to the northeast, whose highest point is Moscow Mountain at 4983 feet (1519 m) above sea level. The less prominent Paradise Ridge at 3702 feet (1128 m) and Tomer Butte at 3474 feet (1059 m) lie to the southeast of the town. Paradise Creek, with headwaters on Moscow Mountain north of the city, flows through the city of Moscow. It then crosses the state border and joins the south fork of the Palouse River near Pullman.

The geology in and around Moscow represents varied formations: very old intrusive granite structures of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Idaho Batholith, fertile fields atop rolling hills of deep Pleistocene loess of the Palouse Formation deposited after the last ice age by westerly winds, and flood-worn channels of the Columbia River Basalt Group.

History

Miners and farmers began arriving in the northern Idaho area after the American Civil War. The first permanent settlers came to the Moscow area in 1871. Due to the abundance of camas bulbs, a favorite fodder of pigs brought by the farmers, they informally named the vicinity Hog Heaven. When the first post office opened in 1872, the town was called Paradise Valley (Paradise Creek flows through town, westward to Pullman), but the name was changed to Moscow in 1875.

The precise origin of the name Moscow has been disputed, but there is no proof that it was named by a Russian or for the Russian city. It is reported by early settlers that five men in the area met to choose a proper name for the town, but could not come to consensus on a name. The postmaster Samuel Neff then completed the official papers for the town and selected the name Moscow. Interestingly, Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania and later moved to Moscow, Iowa.

The business district was established by 1875 and the town was a center of commerce for the region. By 1890, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company's rail line (later the Union Pacific) and the Northern Pacific railroad line helped to boost the town's population to 2000.

The capital of the Idaho Territory was relocated from Lewiston to Boise in December 1864. In the late 1880s, statehood for the Washington Territory was nearing. Because its commercial and transportation interests looked west, rather than south, the citizens of the Idaho Panhandle passionately lobbied for their region to join Washington, or to form an entirely separate state, rather than remain connected with the less accessible southern Idaho. To appease the residents of the north, the territorial legislature of Idaho in Boise placed the new land grant university in Moscow, which at the time was the largest city other than Boise in the state. The University of Idaho was chartered in January 1889, and first opened its doors to students in October 1892.

In March 1890 Moscow's neighboring city, Pullman, was selected as the home of Washington's land grant institution. The college which would eventually become Washington State University, opened its doors in January 1892. Washington entered the union as the 42nd state in November 1889. Idaho entered next, eight months later, in July 1890.

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Moscow Public Library

Members of the Pleiades Club and Ladies’ Historical Club formed a cooperative named the Women’s Reading Room Society and established a small library in the Browne building at the corner of Main and Second Streets in 1902. In 1904 the committee planned to raise funds for a new library building. Andrew Carnegie promised funding of $10,000 if the community agreed to maintain a free public library at the rate of at least $1000 annually. Moscow voters approved a permanent tax in 1905 and with successful fundraising by subscription of local residents and businesses, coupled with the Carnegie library money, the library construction was begun in 1905. In March 1906, the Mission Style building was ready for occupancy. A fire at the University Of Idaho Administration Building totally destroyed that structure, so the new library was used for university classes during the day and residents used the library in the evening. Beginning in 1907 the building was returned to full use as a library. The original library building (which is on the National Register of Historic Places) was expanded in 1931 and 1983. The building houses a children’s room named for the author Carol Ryrie Brink. In 2006, the Friends of the Library celebrated a Century of Service for the organization. The current organizational structure of library service encompasses all public libraries in Latah County as the Latah County Library District. The library enjoys broad support from the citizens of Moscow and the County and is also supported by the Idaho Commission for Libraries (formerly the Idaho State Library.) To commemorate the first century of the library, an essay competition was held. One young writer wrote

“We are fortunate enough to be able to walk a few blocks down to the public library and check out whatever we want. Libraries are valuable and available to everyone, regardless of wealth. Anyone can and everyone should get a library card. I am very grateful that we have a public library in Latah County.” Elizabeth Nielsen (2006)

The library serves as resource for all the residents of Moscow, or as one essayist (Ellis Clark) in the 2006 contest states “When time, money, or circumstances bind you to one locale, the Library is your passport for travel.”

Parks and Recreation

There are seventeen neighborhood parks located throughout the town offering a wide variety of venues for outdoor activities. These parks fall under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Parks and Recreation Department. The Paradise Path Task Force is a citizen committee seeking to develop a system of linearly connected parks throughout the area. Carol Ryrie Brink Nature Park was a community collaboration between the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute and local volunteers to remeander Paradise Creek and add riparian plantings. The Moscow community, including schools and the city, led by local youth, raised money over several years to fund, design, and build a skate park which was completed in 2000.

The Latah Trail extends from the eastern edge of the Moscow bike path system, while the Bill Chipman Trail in Whitman County, Washington joins the western edge of the path. Eventually the project will provide a 22 mile linear park system from Troy, Idaho to Pullman, Washington.

Education (schools, colleges, and universities)

Name	Type	Level	Affiliation	Notes
A.B. McDonald	Public	Elementary	Moscow ISD
Atlas Boy's School	Private Christian	Elementary	Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho)	Classical Education (Christian)
Emmanuel Preschool	Private Religious	Pre-K	Emmanuel Lutheran Church (ELCA)	Christian
Head Start Preschool	Public	Pre-K	Head Start Dept. of Health & Human Svcs
Lena Whitmore	Public	Elementary (K-6)	Moscow ISD
Logos School	Private Christian	K-12	Association of Classical and Christian Schools	Classical Education (Christian)
Montrose Academy	Private	K-12		Design an education plan based on the student's ability, rather than their age
Moscow Charter School	Public Charter	Elementary (K-6)	Moscow ISD	Focuses on Arts and Technology with low Student-teacher ratios
Moscow Day School	Private Non-Profit	Pre-K	Non-profit private school	NAEYC accredited
Moscow High School	Public	High School (10-12 grades)	Moscow ISD
Moscow Junior High School	Public	Junior High (7-9 grades)	Moscow ISD
Moscow School of Massage	Vocational school	Post secondary	Commercial	Massage therapy
Mr. Leon’s School Of Hair Design	Vocational school 2-year	Post secondary	Commercial	Cosmetology
New Saint Andrews College	Private Christian	College	Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools
Palouse Hills Seventh-day Adventist School	Private	Pre-K to 8	Seventh-day Adventist Church
Palouse Prairie School	Public Charter	Elementary (K-6)	Independent LEA	Opening Aug 2009, using the Expeditionary Learning model
Paradise Creek Regional High School	Public	High School (9-12 grades)	Moscow ISD	Alternative high school serving students in Latah County; with a goal of earning a high school diploma
Russell	Public	Elementary (4-6)	Moscow ISD	First school in Moscow; established in 1884
Saint Mary's and Saint Rose’s	Catholic Parochial School	Elementary (Pre-K-6)	National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA)	Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise
University of Idaho	Public	University (Undergraduate and Graduate)	State of Idaho	Land-grant university
University of Idaho College of Law	Public	University (Graduate)	State of Idaho	Law School
West Park	Public	Elementary (K-3)	Moscow ISD

This list does not include private daycare facilities unless they are listed with the State of Idaho as schools.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 21,291 people, 7,724 households, and 3,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,460.6 people per square mile (1,336.7/km²). There were 8,029 housing units at an average density of 1,305.0/sq mi (504.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.23% White, 0.91% African American, 0.80% Native American, 3.13% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 0.97% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.47% of the population.

There were 7,724 households out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.0% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.9% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the city the population was spread out with 16.1% under the age of 18, 35.8% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 14.0% from 45 to 64, and 7.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 109.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,884, and the median income for a family was $46,331. Males had a median income of $35,494 versus $24,560 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,930. About 9.5% of families and 22.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Government and Politics

Moscow has a Council-Mayor form of government consisting of six Council members (at large) and a Mayor. These positions are elected separately and serve four year terms. Council member elections are held every two years in November, with terms staggered so that three of the six seats are open at each election. The Council elects a President and Vice-President from among its members at its first meeting in January each year. These two officers may stand in for the mayor as necessary. Council is the legislative and judicial arm of Moscow’s City government; enacting ordinances and resolutions. This body confirms the Mayor's appointments of City officials and citizen advisory commission members. Council approves the City's annual budget and serves as the convening body for public hearings and appeals of other City Boards and Commissions. Meetings are generally scheduled for the first and third Monday of each month, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

As a college town, Moscow tends to be less conservative than the rest of Idaho. In the 2004 Presidential Election, John Kerry outpolled George W. Bush in Moscow 54%-46%. Latah County was 51%-49% for Bush; the entire state went 69%-31% for Bush.

Sister city

Moscow has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Villa Carlos Fonseca, Nicaragua

External links

• City of Moscow official site
• A Brief History of the University of Idaho official site
• Latah County Historical Society
• The Appaloosa Museum

Notes