ISLAND PARK — The official population of Island Park is around 300, but every year, tens of thousands of people drive through and visit the longest Main Street in America.
Measuring at 33 miles on U.S. Highway 20, this picturesque town in Fremont County attracts visitors from all over the world. Some love it so much, they make Island Park their permanent home.
“Fly fishing brought me here in around 1997. I came here starting to fish and fell in love with it,” Millie Paini tells EastIdahoNews.com.
PHOTO GALLERY | ISLAND PARK
Paini never returned to her hometown of Moab, Utah. She met her future husband, Rich Paini, and they joined forces with Jon Stiehl to open TroutHunter, a lodge, restaurant and fly shop that offers guided fishing trips in the summer.
Paini says the number of visitors coming to Island Park has grown over the decades, but the past few years have been particularly busy.
“It’s insane now. From about the end of May until the middle of October, I live across the highway, and I have a hard time getting to work some mornings. It’s crazy,” she says with a laugh.
The history of Island Park
Native Americans were the first to settle in Island Park. Next came trappers and traders, followed by explorers, guides, and scouts beginning in 1810, according to the Fremont County website.
The first of these was Major Andrew Henry. Henrys Lake and the Henrys Fork of the Snake River are named after him. Other settlers arrived during the late 1860s and built ranches. Many mined, cut timber, built roads and fished.
Island Park became incorporated in 1947 because Idaho’s liquor laws required it to be a city for the purpose of regulation. City lines were drawn around existing lodges along Highway 20.
During this time, more Americans were buying cars and able to travel to Yellowstone National Park. Along the way, many stopped at Big Springs and Johnny Sack’s cabin.
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