The name: One of the earliest settlements in the state a once well-used stop along the Oregon Trail, the town’s name is derived from its location. It sits at the midway point between Boise and Kenneys Ferry, near the junction of the Boise and Snake rivers.

History: One of the oldest towns in the state nearly came to demise because of Caldwell, historians say.

And it happened because of the Oregon Short Line Railroad.

According to the book “Middleton in Picture and Story” by the Middleton Centennial Book Committee, some of the town’s most influential entrepreneurs abandoned Middleton when the railroad didn’t pass through when it was built in 1883. They packed up and moved to the new town of Caldwell, which appeared alongside the tracks where they crossed the Boise River.

The lure of the new city beside the tracks influenced Samuel Foote — who ironically would later return to Middleton to become the town’s first mayor — to move his successful flour mill there. Also making the move were the town’s postmaster and dry goods store operator, Monte Gwinn, and George Leggett, who tore down his hotel in Middleton to build a new one in Caldwell.

Trivia fact: Middleton gained an infamous claim to fame in the mid-1920s as the site of the “Great Middleton Bank Robbery” of 1926. The Middleton State Bank was held up by two armed men and more than $1,600 was stolen. The money was never recovered.