Entry No. 18 — the Boise file — filed under: offbeat-museum

Old Idaho Penitentiary - J. Curtis Earl Arms Collection

Inside this 1870s sandstone territorial prison, where inmates quarried their own walls from nearby Table Rock and ten executions were carried out (six by hanging, in what is now the Rose Garden), sits the J. Curtis Earl Memorial Exhibit of Arms and Armaments, thousands of antique guns and weapons spanning the Bronze Age to WWII, donated to the state by a single obsessive collector. The grounds also hold Idaho's Merci Train boxcar, a 1949 thank-you gift from France. It's a strange double bill: solitary cells and gallows on one side, one man's vast weapons hoard on the other.

The move: Self-guide through the cell blocks and gallows, then linger in the cavernous weapons hall comparing favorites.

📍 Before you go Open daily (summer 10-5, winter 12-5); guided tours cost an extra fee and the Merci Train is by appointment only.

• 📍 Boise (Old Penitentiary Historic District)
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 2445 Old Penitentiary Rd, Boise, ID 83712

Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-24