This Chilling Small Town in Idaho Is Full of Heartbreaking History

Here at OnlyInYourState, we've covered numerous historic ghost towns and ruins in Idaho, but today, our topic is a little more humbling. There is one spooky town in Idaho with quite a horrifying history.

In February 1942, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved an executive order that moved nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans into ten isolated relocation centers across the West. Here in the Gem State, Hunt Camp in southern Idaho still stands as an eerie reminder of this troubling period in U.S. and Idaho history. Tucked away in the middle of Idaho's most haunting desert landscape, temporary ramshackle barracks, guard towers, and barbed-wire fences were put in place to house thousands of Japanese and Japanese-Americans.

This is the story of one of those centers: Minidoka.

Hidden in the outskirts of Minidoka County in southern Idaho, there is a special rural beauty that shrouds a much darker history. Here, housed in tar paper shelters, over 9,000 men, women, and children were forced into isolation between 1942 and 1945.

In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a combination of fear, hysteria, and buried racism against Japanese-Americans instigated the single largest forced relocation in our nation's history. A stroll through the camp is a trip back in time at this spooky town in Idaho, as well as a humbling insight into a horrific moment in history.

Many of these families and individuals were shipped across the border into Idaho from Washington's Bainbridge Island camp, which was far more humane and much less barren. The internment camp's population peaked at 9,397, making the concentration camp Idaho's eighth largest city at the time.

By day, the camp was a fully self-sustaining makeshift community with schools, a hospital, sports, and art. By night, guard towers maintained constant watch over the camp, and barbed wire ensured internees wouldn't escape.

Today, the remnants of this eerie camp are one of the eeriest ghost towns in Idaho in its own right, simply recognized as the Minidoka National Historic Site. A museum, cemetery, and various signs cover the history of Minidoka, which was thankfully shut down in October 1945.

You can visit this makeshift town and historic camp off the Eden exit. You can learn more about its history and information to plan your visit on the National Park Service website. Keep in mind that the visitor center to this national historic site is closed during the winter months.

While every ghost town has its history, this former internment camp has a heartbreaking history that deserves to be remembered and preserved for future generations. Have you visited this abandoned town in Idaho? Do you have any stories to share about this historic site? If you are planning a trip to southern Idaho, make sure to check out Only In Your State’s itinerary planner for activity, attraction, and restaurant recommendations.