Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Arbon, Idaho


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Eddie891 Talk Work 12:05, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Arbon, Idaho

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I think this is the first time I've nominated a place with an active zip code for deletion, but this is a really weird case. But first, we have to start with Pauline. This is a spot that moves around on the topos, first at a T junction and then at a bend in the road a little ways north of there. If you go to this latter spot in GMaps, however, you will find a gravel business of some sort and the Arbon post office, zip code 83212, sitting in a trailer the likes of which I haven't seen in use in probably twenty years if not more (they used to be common for small rural spots around here). And if you head south along the highway a bit past the original spot, you will come upon the Arbon Elementary School. GNIS, meanwhile, identifies Arbon as a spot far to the south, where there is an LDS ward which used to be on the south side of the road but has since expanded to the north. The passage from the genealogical magazine makes it clear that, yes, this is the original Arbon, but as far as I can see, the church and the neighboring farm are all that has ever been here. Meanwhile, there's the same problem with Pauline: there's no sign of a town at either of its two locations. But it gets worse: there is an Arbon Valley, Idaho CDP, but it isn't actually in Arbon Valley, according to this history of the area. Reading through the pages on the various areas, as far as I can tell they are all large, diffuse areas of farms rather than town-like settlements. Maybe the actual valley, as opposed to the CDP, could be written up somehow, but I'm not seeing how these "communities" satisfy WP:GEOLAND. Mangoe (talk) 03:21, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Idaho-related deletion discussions. North America1000 04:50, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions. North America1000 04:50, 17 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Keep both. The 1924 Premiere Atlas of the World gives Arbon a population of 340 and Pauline a population of 184 on pages 180-181. WP:GEOLAND is thus satisfied: "Populated, legally recognized places are typically presumed to be notable, even if their population is very low." The area obviously had a major population collapse, as my 1960 World Book Encyclopedia lists Arbon with a population of 10... but still does list it. It would be odd for a traditional encyclopedia to cover a subject we do not. The 1918 Utah Genealogical Historical Magazine, volumes 9-10, describes Arbon as a small settlement and gives some history. This site gives details about Pauline, including the sudden reduction in its population. And yet, these communities still share a school and a post office. The county these communities are in, Power County, has a free newspaper archive which mentions Arbon and Pauline frequently, including, for example, news stories about the Arbon Farm Bureau and the Pauline School . We should not be judging notability solely based on Google Maps searches of the 2021 state of these communities. These were notable communities in their time, and notability is not temporary. It is definitely possible to write quite a bit more about two communities which together once may have had more than 500 people, and about which there is a free archive of news stories which any editor can access. My AAA Road Atlas has no confusion about where these communities are: Pauline is at the junction of the Arbon Valley Highway and the Bannock Highway, while Arbon is about 8 miles to the south on the Arbon Valley Highway. Firsfron of Ronchester  08:27, 17 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep both. Arbon is fairly well-documented by newspaper sources; here is a 1966 article about it (and the Arbon Valley) receiving dial phone service that also documents some of its history, here and here are accounts of Arbon pioneers, and here and here are early articles about its settlement. And at any rate, a community with both a post office and a school is a legitimate community regardless of how spread out its residents are. Pauline is a little harder to search for, but in addition to the sources Firsfron found, it once had its own local news section in the American Falls paper  and a documented etymology . I'm not sure what's up with the GNIS coordinates being where they are, or why the Arbon Valley CDP isn't anywhere near Arbon, but that doesn't affect whether these two communities are notable. TheCatalyst31 Reaction•Creation 02:35, 18 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep both As they both meet geoland.Jackattack1597 (talk) 10:32, 24 June 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.