10/14/2026
I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Allen yesterday, who photographed the exterior of our 1889 home and wrote this fascinating piece about its former owner. Paul is a local photographer who grew up in Idaho Falls and has a true passion for his craft. His beautiful book, Idaho Falls ā Noir et Blanc, is also available for purchase. Itās wonderful to see our local history captured and celebrated through his lens!
Edward P. Coltman was born in 1864, but by the time Eagle Rock was being renamed as Idaho Falls, the lumberman from Pennsylvania had arrived. He would go on to reshape our town, including making honest men of the investors who bent the truth a bit when they called the water cascading over the basalt cataract āIdaho Falls.ā
When he was building this beautiful home on N. Water in 1898, he was wearing two hats: he was the owner of Coltman Lumber Company downtown, and he was named the Postmaster of a tiny town north of Idaho Falls. His lumber would build Idaho Falls. And the little town would bear his name: Coltman, Idaho.
By 1904, Edward Coltman would add a third hat to his resume: Mayor of Idaho Falls. He served first from 1904 to 1907, and then was elected a second time in1909, which would cement his legacy. You see, it was Mayor Coltman who, in 1910, championed the cause to a skeptical public to significantly expand the municipal hydroelectric power plant by partially damming the Snake River ā accomplished by building a concrete wall right across the top of the basalt cataract in the heart of town thereby raising the water level enough to run a power plant.
Tragically, he never got to see it in person. Edward Coltman died in September of 1910 at the age of 46. The footings of the dam for which he fought so hard were washed away in the spring floods of 1911, and Coltmanās dream wouldnāt be completed until 1912 by master builder, W.W. Keefer with the help of his sons, Frank and Fred. But because of the last battle of Edward Coltmanās civic life, the city had a real power plant, and finally had a literal āfalls.ā
We sometimes take ribbing from visitors that our āfallsā is just a concrete wall. And while thatās true in one sense, it is so much more than ājust a concrete wall.ā It represents the vision of men like Coltman, and the construction genius of men like Keefer, building on the engineering of men like Joseph Clark (our first mayor) all coalescing into a dam that makes a pleasant falls AND generates cheap hydroelectric power to the cityās residents. I see it less as a concrete wall and more as a gift of our forefathers. I LIKE our falls.
I met Honey & Homestead, current owner of Coltmanās home. The responsibility for maintaining the historical home falls to her now, and she told me a short story that suggests to me the house is in good hands. When they pulled off the baseboards during the very significant restorations they have undertaken to preserve this home, she saw that the back was stamped, āColtman Lumber Company.ā With that knowledge in her back pocket, she made certain the wood was preserved and returned to where Coltmanās builder himself had nailed it all in place well over 100 years ago.
