Oldtown, ID

Oldtown is a Bonner County city on the Pend Oreille River, with 221 residents in the 2020 census. It sits directly across the Idaho-Washington line from Newport, Washington, squeezed between the state boundary and the river. U.S. Route 2 carries the main business traffic through a narrow strip, while houses and the railroad spread south of the commercial center. The border is a daily fact here, not a distant line on a map. The boundary is visible from town streets.

ATTRRelated names: Boudrye , Sam R Virginia Bridge and Iron Works Boise Iron Works Murphy, Joseph A Rountree, Charles M, transmitter Garrett, Duane, photographer Herbst, Rebecca, historian / Public domain

The community began as Newport, Idaho, a late-nineteenth-century port for river and overland travel. A general store, post office, hotel, and saloon served the Pend Oreille Valley, and the Great Northern Railroad reached the area in 1892. When the Idaho settlement incorporated in 1947, it adopted the name Oldtown. Today the city’s streets, river views, railroad, and Washington neighbor remain tightly connected. Oldtown is an Idaho city where a state line, a river port, a highway strip, and a shared border-town economy meet.