Idaho Falls (pop. 64,818; met. area pop. 157,429) is one of the largest cities in Idaho. Idaho Falls lies on the Snake River in the southeastern part of the state. The city is a retail and service center for the region, and it serves as a food-processing center for farms in the Snake River Valley. The area has large potato-processing plants and plants for producing barley malt.
In 1865, a freight hauler named James Madison Taylor built a toll bridge in what is now the Idaho Falls area. Miners used the bridge to reach nearby gold deposits, and merchants built stores to serve the miners. In 1891, the people of the settlement changed its name from Eagle Rock to Idaho Falls because the rapids of the Snake River resembled falls. During the early 1900’s, the construction of flour mills and sugar factories helped the population of Idaho Falls grow.
In 1949, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) built a reactor testing station 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Idaho Falls. The station, now known as the Idaho National Laboratory and operated for the United States Department of Energy by the Battelle Energy Alliance, is the city’s chief employer (see Idaho National Laboratory ).
