Palouse village, known to the local tribes as Naha’u’umpu’u, or “People of the River,” was one of the oldest sites of the Palus (or Palouse) Indians of the Pacific Northwest. It is located at the confluence of the Snake River and Palouse Falls and…

Spokane is steeped in Native American history, the name itself derived from the Spokan tribe, and many roads, creeks, and wildlife names also provide evidence of this native history. The creek appears on the The area officially listed as Latah…

Hangman Creek is one of the Spokane River’s largest tributaries and is surrounded by lush meadows and farmland. It once provided local tribes with food sources such as trout, salmon and freshwater mussels, as well as reeds used to make sleeping mats…

Like most of the landscape in Eastern Washington, the South Hill Bluffs in Spokane reveal the incredible influence of Lake Missoula’s ice dam that broke apart and surged through the area around 20,000 years ago. The layers of clay, silt, and rock,…

The area known as Vinegar Flats has a diverse history and was once home to local tribes, pioneers from the East coast, as well as new immigrants moving into Spokane. As early as 1874 there were small farms and orchards springing up with apple and…

The West Central neighborhood was platted in the 1880’s when William Pettet and William Nettleton invested heavily in the area. The neighborhood grew with new homes and businesses and hundreds of people moved to the area. Development was accelerated…

Local family owned businesses help create and define neighborhoods and in the early part of Spokane’s history small butcher shops, supply stores and dairies were a familiar sight. Built in 1905 and originally a family-owned butcher shop known as St.…

Spokane was a booming city in the early part of the twentieth century attracting a great many land prospectors from across the country. Newcomers such as William Nettleton and William Pettet may have platted the West Central area in 1887 but it was…

Every Spokane neighborhood has its beloved iconic business. The Milk Bottle in Garland, Dicks Hamburgers and Frankie’s Diner downtown, and The Elk in Browne’s Addition help define the unique character of their neighborhoods. In West Central, Doyle’s…

Beginning in the 1800s, many Catholic parents began to believe that their children were not served by a system of public education that was dominated by Protestant educators and elected officials. Catholic schools were founded across the country in…

Carnivals and Circuses were big business in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Barnum and Bailey’s ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ and the popular Ringling Brothers Circus were two of the biggest traveling shows in America. Railway expansion…

One hundred years ago, women had little access to birth control or legal ways of ending pregnancies. For unwed women, an unplanned pregnancy could lead to expulsion from the home and social disgrace. At the turn of the nineteenth century there was…

Spokane stands on the edge of a sea of wheat, and grain and milling was a growth industry in the city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. There are several mills still standing to prove it. Sperry Mill, on Sprague, was owned and…

Education is a cornerstone of great cities, and Spokane is no different. The elegance of buildings like the McKinley School testify to the value that early Spokanites attributed to public education. The McKinley School, named after President…