Canyon County Historical Society's Nampa Train Depot Museum

This is Nampa’s train depot museum that is a well maintained building as well as some old equipment they used on the tracks long ago. You will notice an old steam crane here that is a serious old time equipment used to do the heavy lifting. I want to go back when it is open to see the inside. It’s not nearly as large as Boise’s but it is some serious history I’d Nampa.

There is so much history to learn here, about Nampa, about train, about native Americans, and people’s life in general. The museum staff, all volunteers, are so friendly and knowledgeable. It is touching and humbling to know that so many people devote their time, make tremendous efforts, and donate artifacts, to make this little-town museum possible and preserve its rich history.

Very cool and unique place, truly an icon of Idaho history. Well worth stopping in if you have any interest in history or local culture.

Love what they are doing. Half of the museum is dedicated to train depot history and the other half is dedicated to firefighters. Some great history is on display but my families favorite was the giant model train display. Loved playing I spy.

Great little museum! Free entry with a recommended donation if you can.

Friendly knowledgeable staff. With a cool old steam crane and caboose that can be gone inside of.

The palatial Nampa Depot is a preserved former passenger station, built in 1903 on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. It’s a fine Eclectic building, combining Romanesque and Renaissance details, but predominantly neo-Baroque. This served as a station until 1927, becoming offices for railroad employees, and then headquarters for the Canyon County Historical Society in 1973 after the organization campaigned against the depot’s demolition. The society is staffed 100% by volunteers, and the museum, open mainly on weekends, is a treasure trove, filled with railroad artifacts and absorbing details about many aspects of Nampa’s past, from local businesses to Native American culture.

Worth a quick visit to checkout the historical museum and trains. The city has done a great job to preserve this building!

The Nampa Train Depot Museum sits somewhere at the end of Downtown Nampa. It's like any museum in Idaho, but I think it deserves more of our attention. That is what the problem is with all of the museums in Canyon County. You know they are there, but you have to depend on one website about Canyon County for hours and hopefully the admission. When you first enter it is a little bit awkward because it is like you are entering someone's property. If you continue to journey inside you can see a train set and touristy things to buy that is Idaho related. This area is impressive because they have a wider variety of books about the history of Idaho than Barnes and Noble. I bought a book there by Brigham Madsen who was well known for writing books about Southern Idaho and the Bear River Massacre. They have this cool display of old dresses from I believe the 1800s and the early 1900s. I even saw some tea cups made especially for men with mustaches. I will have to post pictures; I thought it was pretty funny. They have plenty of the same things as everyone else like cameras, typewriters, and old kitchen essentials, but I like looking at these kind of items. I realize how far we have came since many of the inventions were created. This museum is probably one of the tiniest in Idaho and Canyon County. There is there area where people used to purchase their tickets to ride the train then you go outside where there are a few sheds and you can look inside and see that they have more old items.They have some interesting items in what I call the garage. Inside there are old ovens, farming equiment, signs, and old medical equipment. More people should check out the Nampa Train Depot. There is a little bit of history about trains here and Idaho. I think this is a good place for those who are obsessed with trains like my dad is. The admission is only a couple bucks and an interesting building to tour in Nampa.

The Nampa Canyon County Historical Museum has a great team. We sponsored an event at the Nampa train depot and had a great time. Wonderful facility and staff I would recommend checking it out!

What a neat place!!!! I wish more people would come and check this museum out. Had such a great time. If I could have spent all day with Bob listening to stories I would have.

Along with spending some quality time with the grandparents, we also looked though old pictures they had on hand of the "G" family members I never met. One of them I'd always been curious about was my great-grandpa "G", he died well before I was born but he seemed to touch many during his time. Grandma and I came across a few photos where he was actually in the pilot of the train, he was a train engineer amongst many other trades but that was one of his most notable. What made this photo really special is that he was in one of the trains which called the Nampa Depot its home. Being that my grandparents live there now and the once bustling depot has become a museum, my grandma thought it would be really neat to donate the photo to the Canyon County Historical Society who now runs the museum. So we trekked over there with good timing actually because a slew of school kids were about to take a tour and met with one of the curators. He was very nice and took immediate interest in the photo we were about to donate. Along with our talk of great-grandpa, he even regaled us with his own stories of a simpler time in Nampa. I'm so glad that my grandma had the fore-thought to do this because now I can proudly go in there and say "That's my great-grandpa!".

We visited the train depot and it was interesting. We loved to go inside the caboose and see all the "old school" items. My kids had a good time trying to figure out what each item was used for. Such a great experience. Everyone was super helpful.