Bannock County

Bannock County was established on March 6, 1893, from part of Bingham County, with its county seat at Pocatello. It was the 19th out of 44 counties. It was named for the Bannack Indians, who were the first inhabitants of the area. Bannock was spelled with an "o" by early settlers.

County Statistics:

County Seat: Pocatello
Population: 75,672
Borders: Bingham, Caribou, Franklin, Oneida and Power counties

Interesting Facts:

The county seat of Bannock County is said to have been named after Pocataro, the chief of a northwestern Shoshone band.  He signed the Treaty of Box Elder, and eventually settled on the Fort Hall Reservation.

Pocatello has strong ties to the railroad industry, with the Pocatello Junction built by the railroad industry. Although the railroad originally put its administrative and maintenance headquarters in Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls) in 1881, the industry moved its major operations to Pocatello a few years later.  During World War II, more than 4,500 railroad cars passed through the city's yards each day.

The city of Pocatello qualified under state law as a city of the first-class in 1920, when its population reached 15,000.

Idaho State University, located in Pocatello, was opened in 1902 as the Academy of Idaho with 70 students.  Enrollment now approaches 13,000.  Its mascot, the Bengal, was officially adopted in 1931.

Pocatello has two international sister cities: Iwamizawa, Japan, and Kwaremenguel, Burkina Faso.

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