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History · Lava Hot Springs

Lava Hot Springs’ post office opened in 1915, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1920.

1915first post office
4on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Decumanus at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Lava Hot Springs began

When was Lava Hot Springs founded?

1915

The Lava Hot Springs post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lava (1890), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 662 in 19202020 census: 358111 years
Founding year: the first Lava Hot Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lava Hot Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lava Hot Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lava Hot Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lava Hot Springs’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Lava Hot Springs

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Riverside Inn
Riverside InnWhitestone HotelLava High School Gymnasium, built 1934L.D.S. Ward Building, built 1933
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Second Renaissance Revival1
Classical Revival1
Tudor Revival1
All 4 listings
Riverside InnBuilding · listed 1979Whitestone HotelBuilding · listed 1980Lava High School GymnasiumBuilding · listed 1997L.D.S. Ward BuildingBuilding · listed 1999

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story so far

Lava Hot Springs, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lava Hot Springs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lava Hot Springs is a city along the Portneuf River in eastern Bannock County, Idaho, United States. It is part of the Pocatello, Idaho metropolitan area. The population was 358 at the 2020 census. Located in the mountainous valley of the Portneuf River on the old route of the Oregon Trail and California Trail, the city has become a popular resort location, noted for its numerous hot springs amenable to bathing and a turbulent inner tube run through part of the town.

Its first post office opened in 1915. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 407 to 358 (-12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Lava Hot Springs, 1890 to 1968

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Lava post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Lava post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1915Post officeThe Lava Hot Springs post office opens
  6. 1920Born hereDale C. Williams is born here
  7. 1921Born hereTerrel Bell is born here
  8. 1933BuiltL.D.S. Ward Building is built
  9. 1934BuiltLava High School Gymnasium is built
  10. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lava Hot Springs, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Lava Hot Springs, Idaho (cropped)2004Lava Hot Springs, Idaho (cropped)IDMap-doton-LavaHotSprings2004IDMap-doton-LavaHotSpringsThe Bridge2003The BridgeDown Main Street2003Down Main Street
On the map

Lava Hot Springs on the map, 1968 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lava Hot Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Lava Hot Springs on the 1968 USGS mapLava Hot Springs on the 1984 USGS map1968Lava Hot Springs sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lava Hot Springs.

People over time

Lava Hot Springs, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 662

Between 358 and 662 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lava Hot Springs’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Lava Hot Springs

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Terrel BellUnited States Secretary of Education · b. 1921
Dale C. WilliamsAmerican politician · b. 1920
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Lava Hot Springs’s post office has been open since 1915. Another post office, Lava, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lava
1890–1895
Lava Hot Springs
1915–today
18901960today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Lava Hot Springs’ history

What year was Lava Hot Springs founded?

The Lava Hot Springs post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Lava Hot Springs?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Riverside Inn (listed 1979, the first).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.