Bloomington, ID

Bloomington is a Bear Lake County city on the Idaho side of Bear Lake Valley, where the 2020 census counted 199 residents. Settlers arrived in 1864, and the community was named three years later before incorporating as a city in 1910. Bloomington sits against the Bear River Range foothills, midway across the valley between the larger settlements of Paris and Montpelier.

School began in Bloomington during the first winter of settlement, taught by George Osmond and James H. Hart. The community also had the first official post office on the Idaho side of Bear Lake Valley, giving the young settlement an early role in mail and local connections. Bear Lake County roads now tie Bloomington to the valley's farms, mountain foothills, and nearby towns. Bloomington's story is a pioneer settlement that became a city without losing its valley setting: schoolhouse first, post office early, foothills always close. The valley's roads connect it with Bear Lake communities and the Idaho-Utah border country.