The Story Behind the “!” on Downtown Library Building

Ok, be real, how many times have you driven by the downtown Boise library branch and exclaimed, "LIBRARY!"

I do that on a regular basis. There's an exclamation point, so you kinda have to. Have you ever wondered where the idea came from?

The Idaho Statesman got to the bottom of it, according to an article released earlier today, the idea came from a man named Howard Olivier.

He was the owner of Flying Pie Pizzaria back in 1994, and as "he was walking into the library one day in 1994 and was struck that the new sign on the side of the building did not really capture its essence. It said, simply, “Library.”

So he actually got in touch with the library's marketing director and told him he'd pay for the addition if she could get permission. The marketing director liked the idea, got the approvals and called Olivier a few weeks later.

It was placed on the building in 1995 with a lot of media attention.

But, according to the Statesman, one person who hated the idea....Dave Bieter, who would eventually become the city's mayor in 2003.

Beiter admitted he wanted to get rid of it as soon as he took office, but "learned in about an hour and a half of being the mayor that the exclamation point is beloved in the city of Boise.”

There's the story; I think I kind of love it even more! LIBRARY!!!!