The relationship between the city shape and light rail in the form of electric trolleys is evident in maps of Boise between 1891 and 1928. Many residential areas of the time, not so coincidently, followed the rail lines throughout the City. Sometimes the trolley extended into preexisting neighborhoods or, just as commonly, residential areas followed the trolley into more remote developing suburbs. Rural inhabitants and smaller valley communities also benefited as the trolley allowed them to live outside the city limits and still occasionally experience the advantages of city life.

The 1899 Coffin/Northrup fire stopped Streetcar No. 2 on Boise’s Main Street. An electric railroad linked Boise to Caldwell by 1910. Idaho State Historical Society.

          The following maps demonstrate the intricate relationship between the electric trolley and the City of Boise. The trolley seemed to reach every part of town and much of the Boise Valley as seemingly few communities developed without electric streetcar influence during this time. Its success as a profit maker is negligible and as mass transportation, short-lived, but its influence in helping to shape Boise around the turn of the century is certain.