The Hagerman Valley Historical Society and MUSEUM brings together people from all walks of life
that are interested in the history of the Hagerman Valley and its preservation.
Our mission is to:
Preserve and promote the important cultural resources of the Hagerman Valley through a
museum collection and educational outreach.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Hagerman Valley Historical Society is managed by a Board of Directors of not less than three
(3) or more than nine (9) persons. All Directors are elected by the membership and must be
members of the Society. The elected officers of the Society shall be a President, a Vice President,
a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
OUR VOLUNTEERS
The Hagerman Valley Historical Society has no paid staff, but we have many wonderful volunteers.
If you would be interested in volunteering, we have a variety of positions available. Please call us
at (208) 837-6288 for more information.
MUSEUM HISTORY
The present day Hagerman Valley Historical Museum building was constructed in 1909 by
investors in anticipation of a railroad boom. Investors chartered the Hagerman State Bank of
Idaho in the building. Efforts to bring the railroad to Hagerman failed, but the bank endured.
In 1916, with the creation of the national banking system, the bank changed its name to First
National Bank of Hagerman. It operated as a national bank until November of 1935 and then
closed.
The building was sold to the Village of Hagerman and leased to the federal government for the
city’s postal operations in 1936. Some modifications were made to the interior; however the
exterior remained essentially unchanged. The building was home to Hagerman’s post office for
nearly fifty years, closing in 1984 when the current post office was built.
The Hagerman Valley Historical Society had been founded in September 1981 by M.J. Crutchfield
Freeman, Billee Reed, and Gretchen Uppiano. Early meetings were held in the Hagerman Senior
Center.
In 1984, the Historical Society entered into a lease agreement with the City of Hagerman to use
the building as a museum. Remodeling and renovation of the building by both contracted and
volunteer labor was completed during 1984, and the first historical society meeting was held in the
‘new’ museum building on September 24th, 1984.
In 1984-85, after the museum’s founders made several trips to the Smithsonian Institute, the
University of Utah was retained by the Smithsonian to cast a fossil horse replica. In August 1985
Greg McDonald, curator of the Museum of Natural Science in Pocatello, mounted the Hagerman
Horse specimen in the museum. The fossil specimen was first displayed to the public in July 1986.
In 1988 the Idaho Legislature declared the Hagerman Horse to be the Idaho State Fossil.
The museum building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
