ATHOL — Historian Keith Petersen has spent three and a half years of his “retirement” writing Idaho history, 100 words at a time. 

When he was approached by Idaho State Historical Society Executive Director Janet Gallimore about a project, it seemed like a reasonable use of his free time.  

Only one problem.

“It's taken a bit more to write 400 stories about Idaho than I had anticipated,” Petersen said. 

On Wednesday, the Idaho State Historical Society, Idaho Transportation Department, and Visit Idaho unveiled the first of the new Historic Highway Markers of Idaho at Farragut State Park, where one of the new signs is located near the visitor center parking lot.

It marked one of the first installations in the state as part of a multiyear effort to refresh all markers with updated historical research, refreshed designs showcasing Idaho’s state symbols, and QR codes linking travelers to an interactive web-based app offering nearby travel opportunities and sign translation into nine languages. 

The old wooden sign markers only accommodated 75 words of text and the new ones hold 100 words to frame Idaho history.  

“Twenty-five words doesn’t sound like much, but to the guy writing these, 25 words is a lot of historical real estate,” Petersen said.  

Petersen said that some gaps in Idaho history have come to light as far as what the old markers highlighted. 

“What stories were told and what stories were not told?” Petersen asked. “If you just had to go by our historical markers, one would think that not much happened in Idaho after 1900.” 

Statewide, there were only five markers that deal with the period of 1940 to the present.   

“We just have access to so much more history than we did 75 years ago,” Petersen said. 

Idaho had no history for the last half-century, with historic markers ending with the Teton Dam collapse in 1976.   

In the stories shared in the original markers, Petersen said, "only three women were worthy of significance in Idaho.” 

In North Idaho, there were 16 markers devoted to mining, but only one marker commemorating the logging history of the region. 

"There were some gaps in the system,” Petersen said. 

To fill in those gaps and dig into written and oral history, the Idaho State Historical Society worked with volunteers, including Tribal cultural experts and historian Nancy Renk.

Markers commemorate the travels of Lewis and Clark, the Oregon trail, aviator Gladys Burker; Gretchen Fraser, the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing, Olympian; and the inventor of the erector set, Alfred Carlton Gilbert, and Chinese Railroad workers who laid track for the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

Gallimore stated she hoped the new markers would root residents and tourists alike in understanding more about their relationships to the land and history. 

“Read, reflect and connect on places around us related to history,” Gallimore said. 

    Keith Petersen speaks about developing updated historic markers for North Idaho. Idaho State Historical Society, Idaho Transportation Department and Visit Idaho teamed up to create new markers with QR codes with additional information at hundreds of historic markers across North Idaho.
  

    Idaho State Historical Society Executive Director Janet Gallimore shares how new historic markers will be placed around North Idaho. Idaho Transportation Department and Idaho State Historical Society partnered to update all highway markers with new historical research and signage and Visit Idaho developed QR codes to be placed at each location.