Boise Parks Department Honors Trailblazing Idaho Women

As March and Women's History Month comes to a close it is important that we celebrate the achievements of trailblazing and hard working women not just in March but all year. We have some incredibly impressive women in Idaho who have done remarkable things for the state and communities.

Boise Parks over the years has honored women in the state with park namesakes. Idaho Press says, "The Boise Parks Department’s “Ribbon of Jewels” highlights 12 parks along the Boise River, named for 12 women who have contributed significantly to Boise culture, art and industry: Alta Harris, Ann Morrison, Bernardine Quinn, Bethine Church, Dona Larson, Esther Simplot, Golda Harris, Julia Davis, Kathryn Albertson, Kristin Armstrong, Marianne Williams and Sue Howell. While eight of the women are memorialized with a dedication, four of the women named eponymously to a city park are very much alive — Simplot, Armstrong, Williams and Howell."

These dozen women along with many, many others have helped shape our great state and made it what it is today. Many other strong Idaho women are creating a better future now. Did you know that women owned businesses is the fastest growing area of business in the state of Idaho?! Pretty impressive.

Did you know that Idaho's state seal, which is also on our state flag, is the ONLY one in the country that was designed and created by a woman? Emma Edwards-Greene was quite the trailblazer for females back in her day. For Emma the Idaho state motto meant "It is perpetuated" or "It is forever". A 1920s book called "History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains" was written by James H. Hawley. In the book James says "Miss Emma Edwards of Boise, now Mrs. Emma Edwards-Greene, who designed the State seal, says the words Esto Perpetual 'breathe the prayer that the bounty and blessing of this land may forever benefit its people."

Seal of Idaho, Idaho.gov

Thank you to all of the women who have trailblazed over the years and thank you to the men who have truly and wholly supported women in business, culture and life.

UPDATE: Hilary Knight (Idaho) Totally Dominating at 2022 Winter Olympics

LOOK: Milestones in women's history from the year you were born

Women have left marks on everything from entertainment and music to space exploration, athletics, and technology. Each passing year and new milestone makes it clear both how recent this history-making is in relation to the rest of the country, as well as how far we still need to go. The resulting timeline shows that women are constantly making history worthy of best-selling biographies and classroom textbooks; someone just needs to write about them.

Scroll through to find out when women in the U.S. and around the world won rights, the names of women who shattered the glass ceiling, and which country's women banded together to end a civil war.