Formed December 31, 1863 (1st county)
Owyhee County (11,914), Murphy* (96), Homedale (2,882)
The tan brick building of Owyhee County was built in 1935. A Justice Center was built and connected to the courthouse in 1992. There was a courthouse in Silver City built in 1866. The current courthouse is on Murphy Grandview Road between Hailey and Pershal streets. Idaho State Highway 78 is Murphy Grandview Road. A memorial to the Otter Massacre sits in front of the building. Tourtellotte & Hummel are the architects of this Modern and Art Deco courthouse. The county was established on December 31, 1863 as the original county. It originally included Twin Falls, Cassia, and Power counties. Owyhee is a take off of “Hawaii” where a number of trappers came from. Mining engineer Pat Murphy is the source name for the county seat. Silver City (1863) and Ruby City (1867) were previous county seats. Murphy became the county seat in 1934.
Owyhee County government consists of a sheriff, a prosecuter, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive). It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.) Six Circuit Court Judges and a Magistrate Court Judge serve Owyhee, Adams, Canyon, Gem, Payette, and Washington counties (judicial.) The county is in the southwest corner of the state. It borders both Nevada and Oregon. Boise, Idaho is directly north of the county. The county center is 60.8 miles Southeast of Murphy nearer Bruneau. The county is surrounded clockwise by Canyon, Ada, Elmore, and Twin Falls counties and Nevada and Oregon.
The area of the county is 7678 square miles. It is 2 out of 44 in the state. It ranks 26 out of 44 in population in the state. It has a density of 1.6 persons per square mile making it 40 out of 44 in the state. Owyhee County has 38.2% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 95 cuts the northwest corner of the county from Canyon County to Oregon, north to west. The county is shaped like the State of Minnesota lying on its back. Murphy is located in the northwest quarter of the county. Homedale is in the extreme northwest corner. Murphy is the county seat although it is unincorporated and Homedale is the largest city. Murphy is 0.8% is the county population while Homedale is 24.2% of the county population. The county is pronounced OE-WIE-EE-HEE. This county is in the Boise City-Nampa Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Grand View
Homedale
Marsing
Murphy (unincorporated)
