The original Whitney School was a two-story red, brick building. It was annexed into the Boise School District in 1923. That building burned to the ground in 1924.

A new Whitney School was built in 1925 to house students from the fast growing West bench area. When growth continued in the early 1930's, portable units were moved onto the grounds, and then an addition was added to the main structure in 1936. More portables were added in the early 1940’s, and a second addition was built in 1946 to complete the present day Whitney. In 1977 there was a renovation of the building.

Whitney has always been a good school and has served the community well. It was one of the first schools to have new playground equipment installed. It was also the first school to have a grassy playground.In 1946, Principal Clyde Langlois grew tired of the muddy field and came up with the idea of planting grass for the play area. Mr. Langlois took care of the grass the first year, and then the School District took over and maintained the grass from then on. Mr. Langlois was the first full-time principal in the Boise School District, all of the previous principals had been teaching principals.

In the 2008-2009 school year, a new Whitney Elementary school building was built on the south side of the property.The old building continued to be used while the new building was constructed.It was noisy for the classrooms that were close to the construction, and the children had to play on the blacktop because their grassy playground was fenced off during the building process, but it was so fun to watch the new Whitney building be constructed from the ground up.

The 2009-2010 school year began with lots of curious people coming to visit, the finishing crew still working on the building, and many excited children and teachers.The facility is very nice, very roomy and has great technology that will serve the students well for years to come.The playground is still being worked on, but when it is finished there will be 3 soccer fields, the play area for recess, and we are still hoping that there will be a walking track that goes around the whole field that the students, teachers, and community can use.