06/03/2026
🏛️ Buhl History Spotlight (map is from the 1970s)
Have you ever wondered why the streets of Buhl are laid out diagonally instead of following the traditional north-south grid found in many towns?
While browsing through the Buhl Chamber archives, I came across an interesting historical article written by J. Howard Moon that explores the story behind Buhl's unique design. The article offers a fascinating glimpse into the planning, vision, and history that helped shape our community into the town we know today.
As we continue to celebrate and preserve Buhl's rich heritage, it's important to remember the people and decisions that left a lasting mark on our city. This piece from the archives helps explain one of the questions many residents and visitors have asked over the years: Why is Buhl laid out diagonally?
Take a moment to read this historical account from J. Howard Moon and discover another chapter in Buhl's remarkable story.
Why is Buhl Laid Out Diagonally
It seems strange that such a store should begin in St. Louis, but the factors determining the directions of the platting of the city of Buhl originated there at the 1903 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.
Clarence B. Hurtt headed the Idaho delegation to prepare our state's exhibit there; among the exhibitors was I.B. Perrine. The two men were good friends and enjoyed the extensive exhibits and remarkable planning of the exposition center, created by E.L. Masqueray.
When the Twin Falls Townsite Company contracted the survey, sale, and advertising of lots on the Twin Falls townsite, Clarence Hurtt and I.B. Parrine were the second parties in the contract, being bound to complete the Twin Falls Townsite and sell lots and parcels of land. They and others formed another corporation, the Twin Falls Investment Company, in July 1904 to channel money into advertising campaigns, city planning, and platting. The new investment company hired E.L. Masqueray to come to the Twin Falls tract to plan the city. The survey was made on the diagonal according to Masqueray's plans, in order to have sunshine and good growing conditions on all sides of the homes to be built there. The survey was made by John Hayes and Paul S. A. Bickel, who headed the survey crews.
When Walter G. Filer, general manager of the Twin Falls Land and Water Company and a director of the Twin Falls Townsite Company, was placed in charge of the planning of the city of Buhl, Hayes and Bickel were hired to lay out the town and oversee the initial hotel construction; they were so satisfied with the Twin Falls plat that they surveyed the Buhl plat the same way. A correspondence began between Mr. Filer and Mr. Bickel on September 26, 1905. In that letter, Mr. Filer states, "I have your pencil sketch of the Buhl townsite, but before deciding on that, kindly block out a townsite on east and west, north and south lines, and I will be up in a few days and discuss both plans with you. I am asking the railroad people to give an accurate description of the right of way they want through the townsite, which I will forward to you as soon as I get it; we can then work accordingly on our plat."
Mr. Bickel responded that the hotel was already being built on the block indicated and that it would be impossible to re-survey the townsite straight with the world and avoid awkward placement of the town's main building. By the time the railroad right-of-way was determined, neither diagonal nor straight platting would fit well with its directional scheme.
By this time, Mr. Filer, who had expended much time and effort trying to force a straight plat, was in the final stages of transferring the whole system to the Trowbridge and Niver Company, which took over the Twin Falls Land and Water Company (responsible for building Buhl) March 2, 1906. Stanley B. Milner of the original Land and Water Company took responsibility for completing the survey plats, water systems, and general plans for the townsite opening April 17, 1906.
In a letter dated 3/7/1906 to Mr. John E. Hayes, to be handed on to R.W. Faris, who replaced Bickel at the Buhl townsite, Mr. Miller said, "It is great pitty [sic] that the town is laid off without regard to the points of compass. Mr. Faris told me he thought it would cost too much to change it now."
In reply dated 3/14/1906, Mr Faris, who had no responsibility for the platting, told Milner, " I am very sorry we could not change the direction of the streets, as it is a continual nuisance to have them running as they do, but the hotel was already up, and it would have been nearly impossible to make any change."
Mr. Milner then focused his attention on working out the town's water system, drawing examples of curbing plans, planting trees, and personally supervising necessary plans for a successful townsite opening although he was personally dissatisfied with the layout of the plat, the original Hyes-Bickel survey. In fact, Mr. Miller worked so hard that his heart, already greatly weakened, suffered severely. Upon returning to Salt Lake after the opening, he was ordered to have absolute bed rest. He died Thursday, May 3, 1906, two and a half weeks after the opening of this diagonal town -- Buhl
One might ask why the management simply did not force the issue with the surveyors. It may be that Walter Filer was tired from years of dissension and eager to complete the sale of a complex and increasingly burdensome corporate system. His many managerial duties were too demanding.
Mr Miller, was too tired -- and ill. To quote the Salt Lake Herald's announcement of his death, " He overtaxed his energies during his recent trip to Idaho."
Regardless of how well the structure of the town suited those in charge of the project, the city is a beautiful memorial to them and to all who worked to build it.
