Keefer's Island occupies 1.85 acres and is located approximately ¼ mile south (downstream) from a cut in the Snake River known as John's Hole.
Keefer's Island was named for Fred. W. Keefer, a member of a prominent family in the early days of Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls).
Fred Keefer was one of seven children born to William and Eldora Keefer.
William Walker Keefer came to Eagle Rock from Pennsylvania in 1879, at the age of 27.
In 1886, he married Eldora Virginia Shoemaker, a teacher from Pennsylvania.
After arriving in Eagle Rock, William worked as a railroad bridge construction superintendent.
He was later responsible for building railroad shops, the city's first steel bridge, and the dam across the turbulent Snake River below the Broadway Bridge.
Fred Keefer filed a mining claim on the island in 1939 and built a 14' x 22' one-room cabin.
The Douglas fir logs for the cabin were cut on the South Fork of the Snake River and were floated downstream to the island two or three at a time, towed by a rowboat.
The cabin had a shingled roof, brick and stone chimney, cement chinking, and walls that were varnished inside and out.
A Quit Claim Deed between the City of Idaho Falls and Fred W. Keefer was made on December 7, 1962, deeding the city his home and other improvements for a consideration of one dollar,
with the stipulation that the island be known as "Keefer's Island" forever.
The City of Idaho Falls received a Land Patent for the island from the Department of Interior on January 15, 1963.
The Keefer family has been a potent force in the growth and development of our community, forming a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present.
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