About

Do you know where the “Birthplace of Television” is? It’s near Rexburg in Rigby, Idaho. It is here that the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum is found, housed in the old Bond Motel building.

Dedicated to the Idaho farm boy, Philo T. Farnsworth, who sketched his idea for moving-picture radio on a high school blackboard here in 1922. See an early Farnsworth television, along with his patents and family fiddle, one of many to fall silent across potato country because of Philo’s invention. There are also exhibits from the pioneer days of the Jefferson County area.

The Jefferson County Historical Museum features 14,000 square feet of exhibitions from the pre-electric and early electric era, the history of Jefferson County, and early photography. The first television tube, Indian artifacts,ancient Egyption artifacts from biblical days and animal trophies are on display. It also features local writers such as Vardis Fisher, who wrote Mountain Man, which was made into a movie with Robert Redford called “Jerimiah Johnson.”