Simplot donates mansion to state

BOISE – Idaho is about to end its distinction as one of just a handful of states with no official governor’s residence – and do it in a striking way.

J.R. “Jack” Simplot, Idaho’s richest man and a self-made billionaire, on Tuesday donated his landmark hilltop mansion to the state to become the new governor’s home. The Simplot house is a well-known Boise landmark, standing atop a high, meticulously mowed grassy hill under a giant American flag. It’s visible from all over the city, even from the air.

With wife, Esther, at his side, Simplot, 95, stood before the home and declared, “Happy Holidays!” The couple’s gift includes the $2.8 million home, 36 acres of grassy, rolling hilltop, and one condition: The giant flag must continue to wave.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne promised that it will. “That’s a promise we will be proud to make and keep,” Kempthorne told Simplot and others gathered for Tuesday’s announcement.

Simplot, wearing a jaunty black hat and gripping a cane, said, “It’s been awful good to me. I love this hill. I built this flag, and I love it. I just think the world of Idaho, and I’m just pleased to let someone have it like the governor. As governors come and go, they’ll enjoy it, I hope.”

Esther Simplot, her voice breaking with emotion, said, “My husband and I are very honored to present this home to the state of Idaho and all the people. … We know you’ll keep this flag flying.”

Kempthorne said he and his wife, Patricia, likely will move into the home in 12 to 18 months, after some remodeling. Funds for the remodel are being raised privately, and business leaders and friends of Simplot from around the state came to the home for the announcement and pledged to help with the effort.

Among them was Duane Hagadone, who recalled first visiting the home when he was working, ultimately unsuccessfully, with Simplot to reopen the Bunker Hill Mine nearly 24 years ago.

“It was shortly after the house was finished that you brought me and Harry Magnuson here,” Hagadone told Simplot. “What a spectacular view, what a spectacular setting, and what a spectacular governor’s home this will be for the state of Idaho.”

The crowd of supporters included a North Idaho contingent, with Magnuson, Jerry Jaeger and others joining Hagadone. “For all of us from North Idaho that are down today, we want you to know that we are totally behind you and we are going to make it work,” Hagadone declared.

Simplot family spokesman Mark Dunn estimated that the donors may need to raise “a couple million dollars” to update the home and reconfigure it for an official governor’s residence.

For all its 7,400 square feet, the Mediterranean-style home with a red tile roof has only three bedrooms, along with four baths and two fireplaces. Inside its grand entrance, a stairway rises up and then splits, leading up to a large entertaining room complete with sweeping vistas over the city, the mountains and the valley.

Esther Simplot recalled Christmas parties, social events and fund-raisers, when musicians and opera singers would perform in the large upstairs room and the sound would carry all through the house, including the downstairs kitchen and dining room. “The acoustics are wonderful,” she said.

Kempthorne and his wife currently live in a 1,100-square-foot condominium. Because state law requires that the state provide housing for the governor, the state pays him a $4,500 monthly housing allowance.

Idaho’s last governor’s home – no one could call it a mansion – was sold off years ago when then-Gov. Cecil Andrus refused to live there. A nonpartisan committee studied the issue and recommended building a new residence, and the state acquired land from the federal government for a foothills spread not far from the Capitol. Simplot’s mansion is less than five miles from the Capitol.

The Legislature came up with several hundred thousand dollars to add to the proceeds from selling the old house, and plans were drawn up. But the issue turned political, and construction of a new governor’s residence never was approved.

When Phil Batt was governor, the state legislative committee in charge of the governor’s housing came up with the idea of buying Batt’s Boise home. But that led to a major problem when state property-disposal laws prevented Batt from buying it back when he left office, and the state essentially booted him out of his home. The state then sold the house.

Hours after the announcement Tuesday at the Simplot home, the legislative committee met and voted unanimously to “acknowledge Mr. Simplot’s generous gift,” gather more details, and bring a formal proposal back for approval.

“Everybody that drives by it thinks about it,” said Sen. Brad Little, R-Emmett, the committee chairman. “I don’t think you’d ever buy anything like that, the state. It’d be too controversial. But to have an outright gift… We’ll be the 45th state to have a governor’s residence. I see it being a great opportunity to promote the state.”

With interest earned over the years, Idaho’s fund to build a new governor’s residence has about $1.5 million in it, even after paying out the monthly housing allowance. Both Kempthorne and Little said they hope that money can stay in the fund, with the interest earnings covering maintenance and operation of the state’s new mansion.

“It’s pretty incredible, it really is pretty incredible,” said state Rep. Debbie Field, R-Boise.

Simplot started building his fortune as a penniless teenager who went into the potato business. He became the king of the Idaho potato industry and owns a thriving, privately held agribusiness company. Late in life, he bankrolled a startup company in Boise called Micron Technology that earned him a second fortune on high-tech microchips.

Simplot will turn 96 the first week of January.

Patricia Kempthorne said, “I hope that all the people in Idaho will embrace this wonderful gesture.”

She promised to find ways to open at least parts of the home to the public. “This is a home, but we’ll find ways to share it,” she said. “Idaho needs to see this house.”