Town file
Blackfoot, Idaho
Blackfoot, Idaho (Bingham County, Idaho) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 252, "A Skull In The Wood Stove" (2 December 2021). Blackfoot, Idaho, is the seat of Bingham County in the south-east of the state, a potato town of about 12,000 people.
- Town
- Blackfoot
- County
- Bingham County
- State
- Idaho
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 252
- Approximate location
- 43.195, -112.347
Episode 252 / 2 December 2021 / 163 min / full
A Skull In The Wood Stove
"Blackfoot, Idaho, south-eastern Idaho, what I like to call the second panhandle; Bingham County" about 0:05:26
The case: Murder of David Lee Davis (February 2017). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2021
- Population
- 12,000
- Median age
- 31.4
- Median household income
- $43,000
- Median home value
- $254,400
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $700 a month
- Cost of living
- 82
- Religious
- 70%
- Property crime
- ▲ 15% high
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 15% low
History, in brief
- The county seat was meant to be Eagle Rock, the original name for Idaho Falls; the night before the legislation was signed, men from Blackfoot bribed a clerk to erase Eagle Rock and write in Blackfoot, and the governor signed it. about 0:08:43
- Blackfoot residents called the bribery story 'disparaging rumours, intimating some skullduggery on Blackfoot's part' and said it was completely unfounded. about 0:09:53
- Fred Dubois, a Yale graduate and leader of the south-eastern Idaho anti-Mormons, settled in Blackfoot in 1880. about 0:09:11
- A newspaper began in 1880; its first issue listed four general merchandise stores, one jewellery store, a livery stable, four saloons, a hotel, a meat market, two blacks' shops, one barber shop and a lumber yard. about 0:10:10
- A land office was established in 1889 and processed 300 homestead entries in its first three months. about 0:10:31
- The land office opened to settlement on May 7th, 1907, the ' of the Run', when several thousand homesteaders staked their ground and hurried to Blackfoot to file a claim. about 0:10:49
- The town motto is 'potato capital of the world'. about 0:07:05
- The mayor's alternative slogan was 'a trailer in every lot, meth in every pipe'. about 0:07:54
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Loves Blackfoot and the small town atmosphere; everybody is kind and loving and you immediately feel part of the Blackfoot family."about 0:11:54
5 stars
"Great place to raise a family, close to mountains, skiing, fishing, camping and four wheeling, and 30 minutes from two larger towns for shopping, restaurants and nightlife."about 0:12:07
2 stars
"Not a neighbourhood the reviewer feels comfortable living in; neighbours are rude and noisy late into the night, houses and lots are unkempt, trash is everywhere and friendly neighbours keep moving away."about 0:12:26
0 stars
"Grew up there and returned after living in San Francisco; the economy is terrible, there is only potato factory or Walmart work, a management job that paid fifty thousand dollars in California paid eleven dollars an hour, and women are pushed into the lowest paid jobs."about 0:15:01
1 star
"Lots of Mexicans, trashy people and run-down houses, plan to travel for basic needs, schools near the lowest in the country, overwhelmingly Mormon influenced, no white nightlife and very few restaurants."about 0:16:43
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Chubbuck, Idaho19 miles
- Idaho Falls, Idaho26 miles
- Bellevue, Idaho98 miles
- Hazelton, Idaho100 miles
- Jerome, Idaho115 miles
- Perry, Utah121 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.