Garfield School was part of a separate independent school district until 1910, when it was annexed into the Boise District. The original building, which stood at the northeast corner of Boise Avenue and Broadway (currently the site of a car wash), was replaced in 1927 by a new structure across Boise Avenue. The new school housed grades 1-8 in eight classrooms.

Growth in southeast Boise in the 1940's made it necessary to add on to the school. Expansion upped the number of classrooms to twenty-one, and a gymnasium and cafeteria were also added.

In the late 50's and early 60's, the baby boom population explosion caused district administrators to seek every available classroom space; at Garfield, the stage next to the gym was walled off for space, and portable classrooms dotted the playground.

In the 1980's southeast Boise, once the site of a large dairy farm and acres of pasture land, became the host of a tide of immigration from California and other western states. Liberty School was built in 1984, to relieve crowding at Garfield. Three additional southeast Boise schools, White Pine, Trail Wind and Riverside, have been added since, and each of those schools opened at capacity.

Today Garfield serves approximately 550 students in grades K through 6.