Placerville is a populated place in Boise County, Idaho, United States.

The ghost town[5] is located 17 miles east of Horseshoe Bend.

At the meeting of the first legislature held in Lewiston in 1863, the citizens obtained a charter for their city.

Father Mesplie, a Catholic priest, held the first church service January 4, 1864, and in that same year a stage line was established between the Basin and Wallua to carry Wells Fargo express.

[6] Unlike the earlier northern Idaho mining areas of Florence (northeast of Riggins) and Pierce, the Boise Basin mines provided good returns over a period of many years, the peak years being 1863–66, during and immediately after the Civil War.

For that reason the Boise Basin rush was significant an early Idaho settlement, bringing a substantial number of people who stayed to establish towns and providing a population base for retailing and agricultural settlement in the Boise Valley.

Boise Basin had a higher percentage of families than did most mining areas, and the major towns, like Placerville and Idaho City, acquired substantial buildings, lodges, churches, schools, and post offices.

Placerville was unusual in that it even had a street grid and a town square, known locally as the "plaza."

By 1870, however, much of the excess population of the region had been drained off to other mining rushes and returns on claims had fallen somewhat.

The Village Market store has closed but Donna's Place II is open.

The tourism industry which includes among others, history seekers, hunters and ATV and snowmobile recreationalists also continue to add life to the small city.

"[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.01 square miles (2.62 km2), all of it land.

There were no families and 11.3% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 20.0% of those over 64.