Located in the North Central region of the state along the border with Washington , it had a population of 25, at the census. The elevation of its city center is 2, feet m above sea level. Two major highways serve the city, passing through the city center: US north-south and ID-8 east-west. The PullmanβMoscow Regional Airport , four miles 6 km west, provides limited commercial air service. The local newspaper is the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
Miners and farmers began arriving in the northern Idaho area after the Civil War. The first permanent settlers came to the Moscow area in The abundance of camas bulbs, a favorite fodder of pigs brought by the farmers, led to naming the vicinity "Hog Heaven. The name Paradise persists in the main waterway through town, Paradise Creek, which originates at the west end of the Palouse Range, flows south to the Troy Highway , and west to Pullman where it enters the South Fork of the Palouse River.
Historians have disputed the precise origin of the name Moscow. There is no conclusive proof that it is connected to the Russian capital , though various accounts suggest it purposely evoked the Russian city or was named by Russian immigrants. The postmaster, Samuel Neff, then completed the official papers for the town and chose Moscow for the name. Neff was born in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
By , the town had a business district that was a center of commerce for the region. By , the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company 's rail line later the Union Pacific and the Northern Pacific railroad line helped boost the town's population to 2, In the late s, statehood for the Washington Territory was nearing. Because its commercial and transportation interests looked west, rather than south, the citizens of the Idaho Panhandle passionately lobbied for their region to join Washington, or to form an entirely separate state, rather than remain connected with the less accessible southern Idaho.
To appease the residents of the north, the territorial legislature of Idaho in Boise placed the new land grant university in Moscow, which at the time was the largest city other than Boise in the state. The University of Idaho was chartered in January , and first opened its doors to students in October In March , Moscow's neighboring city, Pullman , became the home of Washington's land grant institution.
