Idaho Falls

46 East Idaho Business 2014 Legacy of the Lab Idaho Falls owes much to its earliest proponents in courting the Idaho National Laboratory One thing I have always liked about Idaho Falls is that it is a place that seems to make its own luck. There are people who might say that Idaho Falls was lucky to get the Atomic Energy Commission to locate its headquar- ters here in 1949. For all its ups and downs, this city's economy would be far different — and a lot smaller — without the Idaho National Laboratory in the mix. I'm not saying that agriculture, medicine, retail and the service sector are not big factors. Nevertheless, I invite anyone to tell me what this city would look like had the AEC decided on Pocatello rather than Idaho Falls for its base of operations. Economic development has gotten a lot more sophisticated since the days when Truman was president, but you have to admire the old fashioned way men like E.F. McDermott and Bill Holden got things done. In a memo dated March 28, 1949, Groberg, one of the area's biggest develop- ers, wrote to McDermott, publisher of the Post-Register: "Boost to high Heaven the things we do have, i.e., hospitals, churches, schools, parks, golf course, shopping center, etc., etc. ..." There was no mention of the airport, at the time a log hangar and hut on farmland west of the river. The biggest drawback was perceived to be the lack of a road to the desert. The only highway to the land where the National Reactor Testing Station was to be located was U.S. 26, which veered west at Blackfoot. In the end, Idaho Falls may have beaten out its rival to the south with simple hospitality. While Pocatello's delegation was very businesslike, Idaho Falls held parties and receptions hosted by "winsome young wives," according to "Proving the Principle," a history of the INL published in 1999. As for the road, Holden persuaded Mayor Tom Sutton to put road construction crews to work at the west end of Broadway, to give the appearance that construction was already underway. This was not, "If you build it they will come," but rather, "Fake it till you make it." Was it a proper use of taxpayer money? When you consider the results, I think most people would say yes.The AEC put its head- quarters in Idaho Falls, population 19,000, and the city went on to become what it is today. Could anyone get away with this kind of stuff today? Probably not. Those were simpler times, and sure fun to read about. A baby born that year would be 65 today. Suppose he grew up to land a job at the site? He (and I suppose I should add "or she," but given the times it was more likely to have been "he") would be pretty well set up for retirement today. For someone born in 1989, the certain- ties of 1949 may seem like the stuff of science fiction. That was the year the Cold War ended, and Idaho Falls has been on economic red alert ever since. Since peak- ing in the early '90s, employment at the lab has shrunk drastically. There is always talk of more people being laid off. Yet for all the alarm, Idaho Falls and Bonneville County seem to keep chugging ahead. Construction numbers for the past two years have been robust. This year, we look forward to Melaleuca finishing its new $50 million project. Cabela's has announced it will be opening a store in Ammon in early 2015 — on the southeast corner of Hitt and Sunnyside — and some- thing tells me it's not going to be sitting by itself for very long. I look back on the "greatest generation" and I wonder how it might be possible to match their optimism. After World War II, anything seemed possible for Americans. The memories of the Great Depression and the war were fresh, but economically America stood pretty much unchallenged in the world. No bombs had fallen on our factories, homes or bridges. Today, everyone seems a lot more guarded with their dreams, as if sharing them might cause them to evaporate. BY PAUL MENSER www.bizmojoidaho.com For everything that has bound me to this place for the past 30 years, I look at what is happening today and see plenty to recommend this community to others.

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