Alexander House
304 State St., Boise, IDMoses Alexander, the eleventh state governor of Idaho, came to Boise from Chillicothe, Missouri, in 1890. In 1891 he opened up a men's clothing store and was able to send for his family. Alexander did not come to Boise unprepared. Born in Germany, he had come to the United States at the age of fourteen, worked his way from clerk to partner in a clothing store in Chillicothe, and gained political experience as a city councilman and mayor of the Missouri city.
His business and political career prospered further in Idaho. His small clothing store first expanded to a series of Main Street locations and later to a chain of stores in Idaho and eastern Oregon. His first attempt in the political arena in Idaho brought him the mayoralty for two terms, 1897 and 1901. After an unsuccessful campaign in 1908, he was elected governor in 1914; a position to which he was re-elected in 1916. He was distinguished as being the first Jewish governor in the United States.
His platform consisted mainly of reducing state appropriations, which he carried through by use of his vetoing power. Because of this, he was unable to get legislative support for his program of administrative reorganization. Re-elected in 1916, he gained a Democratic legislature that passed the Workman's Compensation Act and state insurance fund legislation.
Moses Alexander died on January 4, 1932. His son, Nathan, succeeded him in the family business, but never entered the political sphere.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.