Oldtown, Idaho — One Urban Community, Two States

Oldtown sits directly against Newport, Washington. Cross a street in the right place and you have changed states without changing neighborhoods.

Homes, businesses and roads continue across the border with very little physical drama. Newport became the larger commercial and governmental center on the Washington side, while Oldtown incorporated separately in Idaho.

That invisible line has very visible consequences. Taxes, courts, law enforcement and state law change even when the storefronts and traffic do not.

Oldtown is one of the cleaner demonstrations of the difference between a community and a jurisdiction. Everyday life flows across the border; government stops and starts exactly where the survey says it should.