McCroskey State Park on the Land Conservation Assistance Network

McCroskey State Park
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last updated: August 2020

Mary McCroskey State Park was given to the State of Idaho in 1955 and is dedicated to the memory of frontier women and the hardships they endured. Local conservationist, Virgil T. McCroskey, gradually bought up land endangered by logging and cobbled his purchases into a 4,400-acre parcel.

To make the land more attractive to tourists, he cut viewpoints into some of the slopes, built picnic areas, planted flowers, and established a road. The Idaho legislature, however, had serious doubts about the new park, thinking it would not generate enough revenue to justify the loss in taxes, and agreed to accept the gift only if McCroskey would maintain the park at his own expense for the next fifteen years. McCroskey, then in his 70s accepted the terms, and lived exactly fifteen more years, fulfilling his obligation to the state of Idaho just weeks before his death in 1970 at age 93.

McCroskey named the park in honor of his mother, a pioneer woman who came to Eastern Washington with her husband and children to establish a homestead near Steptoe Butte.

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