Downtown Lewiston & the Lewis-Clark Hotel

Lewiston’s downtown grew from the 1861 gold-rush plat — Idaho’s first city — through the steamboat and railroad eras, with the 1900s–1920s brick blocks that survive on the Clearwater bank. The Lewis-Clark Hotel, opened in the 1920s as the valley’s grand hotel, hosted riverboat and railroad travellers and now operates as a restored downtown anchor with a lobby gallery of expedition and valley history. Lewiston was the first capital of Idaho Territory, losing the honour to Boise in an 1864 vote; the city’s museum rooms and courthouse interpret the capital-era story, and the downtown sits below the 2,000-foot Lewiston Hill grade that every road and rail line into the valley must descend. The capital-era story is told in the downtown’s museum rooms and markers — Lewiston was platted in 1861 as Idaho’s first city and served as the territory’s first capital until the 1864 vote moved the honour to Boise — and the restored hotel’s lobby gallery carries the steamboat-and-railroad era portraits. The downtown’s brick blocks on the Clearwater bank grew through the 1900s–1920s timber and orchard booms.