Idaho Falls to honor forgotten pioneer with new bronze statue
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IDAHO FALLS – An upcoming sculpture will honor the memory of a pioneer in the early days of Idaho Falls.
A committee of 11 people is collaborating with the Museum of Idaho to raise funds for a 7-foot bronze sculpture of Rebecca Brown Mitchell, which will be placed in the new Heritage Park being developed near Snake River Landing.
Mitchell arrived in what was then Eagle Rock on June 5, 1882. The 48-year-old Baptist woman got off a train with nothing but the clothes on her back and a few belongings and went on to play a pivotal role in the construction of the city’s first church building, schoolhouse, and public library.
She was active in the women’s suffrage movement and helped lead Idaho to become the fourth state to recognize women’s right to vote. In her later years, she served as the first female chaplain in the Idaho Legislature.
Callie Avondet, the co-chair of the Rebecca Mitchell Project, tells EastIdahoNews.com that Heritage Park, which has been in development since 2016, is slated for completion in November. The statue of Mitchell will be installed in conjunction with the park’s completion.
“The park is intended to commemorate the heritage of Eagle Rock and Idaho Falls. Different things will be (displayed there) to highlight the local history,” Avondet says. “We are hoping to have the sculpture finished by November because that will be 130 years since women’s suffrage was adopted in Idaho.”
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The goal of the statue project is to help the community know a little more about its history and help locals foster a sense of excitement and appreciation for their hometown.
A rendering of the sculpture shows Mitchell holding a shovel, which Avondet says highlights her efforts as a “groundbreaker” in Idaho Falls.
“She was a groundbreaker in so many different ways, and this is symbolic of that. She’s also holding a banner because she was a proponent for women’s suffrage, as well as the temperance movement,” says Avondet.
Funds for the $150,000 project are being paid for through donations. As of last month, Avondet says they’ve raised about a fifth of the total and are hoping to have all the money in place before November. If not, they’ll wait until April 2027 to install it.
Museum of Idaho Managing Director Chloe Doucette, a member of the Rebecca Mitchell Project committee, says Mitchell is a prominent part of the museum’s storytelling because of all she accomplished in her life. Her dress, hymnal, and a representation of her classroom are on display in the museum.
A chapter in Sharon McMahon’s 2024 book, “The Small and the Mighty,” is devoted to Mitchell’s story, and Doucette says that helped bring Mitchell to people’s attention.
“Her story is very important to us, and we’re very grateful that Callie and the rest of the Rebecca Mitchell Project crew decided to do something visible (to honor her) so that everyone can understand that story,” Doucette says.
Avondet says she first became aware of Mitchell in 2021 while listening to an episode of McMahon’s podcast. McMahon highlighted historical women from each state, and Mitchell was the focus of the episode about Idaho. Hearing Mitchell’s story for the first time was “jaw dropping” for her.
“I grew up in Idaho Falls … and I had never heard about her,” Avondet recalls. “When I finished listening to that podcast, I thought, There needs to be a statue of this woman in the city so that people recognize her achievements.”
The project got underway in February 2025 shortly after the committee was formed. Irene Juliette Deely of Eagle was hired to make the statue. Deely is the face behind many sculptures in Idaho, including a bronze statue near the Capitol building in Boise commemorating women’s right to vote. Her sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln sits in front of the Black History Museum in Boise’s Julia Davis Park, and her likeness of William Borah, Idaho’s longest-serving U.S. Senator, sits near the historic Boise Post Office.
Avondet came across Deely’s sculpture about women’s suffrage while doing research. She and the rest of the committee felt she was the perfect person to put Mitchell’s likeness in bronze.
Museum executive director Jeff Carr says that while all of Mitchell’s accomplishments are impressive, the fact that she was the first female chaplain in the world resonates with people because it’s a national record.
Mitchell’s humble beginnings in Eagle Rock make her achievements even more “incredible,” Carr says.
“Sand and sagebrush is all she saw (when she got off the train in Eagle Rock). The fact that she had the wherewithal within the first week to have the first church service in a shed, and then the next day to have the first day of school — doing the unheard of thing was her motto and she (certainly did that),” says Avondet.
Doucette says Mitchell is her favorite historical figure in the museum and she’s proud to be part of the grassroots fundraising effort.
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