On December 17, 1867, the Grand Lodge of Idaho Territory was established, 23 years before Idaho was admitted into the Union.

The Idaho Territory was formed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, one year after gold was discovered in the Boise Basin. The early Idaho gold rush brought many Freemasons into the territory, where several petitioned the Grand Lodge of Oregon for dispensation to form a lodge in Idaho City in 1863. By 1867, six Masonic lodges were in the Idaho Territory; today, there are 52 lodges in the Great State of Idaho. 

George L. Shoup was a territorial governor, the first Governor of the State of Idaho and was elected to the Idaho Legislature to serve in the US Senate. Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Idaho in 1889, Brother Shoup was raised a Master Mason in Colorado in 1864 and later was a charter member of Lemhi Lodge No. 11 in Salmon, ID (1874), which continues to meet today.