$1 Day at the Old Idaho Penitentiary

Saturday, December 14, 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of the Old Idaho Penitentiary operating as a historic site and museum open to the public! Admission is only $1 per person on December 14. Registration will be available at the door, with complimentary Guided Tours and History Showcases offered throughout the day. The site will be open from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm (last admission 4:00 pm).

Guided Tours are available at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 pm (limited to only 25 participants each – first-come, first-served), and history showcases on Resident Women, Executions, and other topics, will take place at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 pm.

The prison first housed incarcerated men in 1872 when it served the Idaho Territory. It became the Idaho State Penitentiary after Idaho’s statehood in 1890. Over 13,000 men and 217 women called the penitentiary home at one time or another, including Idahoans as young as ten and eleven years old. Today their stories are told through a wide variety of special exhibits and preserved cell house structures that allow guests to experience mid-century life in a territorial prison. It closed in 1973, and became a history museum on December 14, 1974.