Arco, Idaho

United States &gt; Idaho &gt; Butte County &gt; Arco, Idaho

Former name
Arco was originally known as Root Hog.

City Hall
Arco City 190 East Grand Avenue Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8975

Church History and Records
Baptist

Baptist Community Church 402 West Grand Avenue Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8533

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 2438 3000 West Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8900

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 209 South Water Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8589

Episcopal
Epiphany Episcopal 448 Yvonne Street (PO Box 672) Arco, ID 83213-0672 Phone (208) 527-3579

Presbyterian
Arco Orthodox Presbyterian Church 320 North Water Street Arco ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-3527

Roman Catholic
St Ann's Catholic Church 342 Lost River Avenue Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-3035

Bible Church
Valley Bible Church 320 North Water Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-3527

Christian Church
Arco Christian Church 143 West Era Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8520

Directories
Arco was included in the R.L. Polk and Company's 1914-1915 Directory of Twin Falls, Blaine, Cassia, Gooding, Lincoln, and Minidoka Counties. A copy of this directory is available in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

The Idaho State Archives in Boise has a collection of city, county, regional and state directories.

Funeral Homes
Anderson Family Funeral Home 2555 North US Hiway 93 Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-7000

Hawker Funeral Home 341 Sunset Drive Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-7777

Marvel Memorial Chapel 317 Sunset Drive Arco, ID 83213 Phone (208) 527-8528

History
When the town of Arco was formed in 1901 it was known first as Root Hog. Root Hog moved its borders to place the town at the intersection of two stagecoach routes that crossed Idaho. The town leaders applied to the U.S. Post Office for the town name of "Junction" for obvious reasons.(Junction of 26/20/93) With a name that common and widely used the postmaster suggested that the place be named Arco for Georg von Arco (1869-1940) of Germany who was visiting Washington, D.C. at the time. (This is not a set in stone fact and can be disputed) Georg von Arco was an inventor and a pioneer in the field of radio transmission and would become the lead engineer of Telefunken, a German company founded in 1903 that produced radio vacuum tubes.

Arco was the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated by nuclear power. This occurred on July 17, 1955. On that date electricity generated by EBR-1 was fed over the lines serving Arco, producing approximately 2,000 kilowatts of electrical power for about 1 hour. This was done at the nearby "National Reactor Testing Station" (NRTS), which is now the Idaho National Laboratory. NRTS made further history on January 3, 1961, when the SL-1 reactor melted down, causing three deaths. It was the world's first (and the U.S.' only) fatal reactor accident. 52 nuclear reactors were built in the years following. Several thousand people are employed and this helps support the surounding cities.

Current
Arco Advertiser 1463 Front St. Arco, ID 83213 Mailing address: P.O. Box 803 Arco, ID 83213 Ph. 208-527-3038 email - arcoadv@aol.com Weekly

Historical
Copies of issues of newspapers are in the collections of the Idaho State Archives in Boise.

Websites
USGenWeb, IDGenWeb, ButteIDGenWeb

Family History Library

Idaho State Archives