All Stories: 709
Stories
Sort by:
Officers' Row: Fort Spokane Tour
You are now standing in front of the foundation of what once was an officer's house. The officers and enlisted men of Fort Spokane were divided by a wide social gulf, as evident with the difference in…
Odd Fellows IOOF Lodge
Like most new western cities, Spokane was home to many fraternal organizations. Fraternal organizations were a type of social organization whose members united for beneficial purpose. These societies…
Npil'x: "Hazy Area"
This spot, called "hazy area," was for generations one of the prime salmon fishing spots on the upper Columbia.
Npil'x refers to the area on the west side of the mouth of the Sanpoil River and…
No Vacancy, Racial Bigotry Raises Its Ugly Head: Spokane had its own segregated public facilities in the Jim Crow era, and the Davenport Hotel was one such business.
Before making his claim to fame in 1945 the up-and-coming visited Spokane Washington where he was schedule to perform at a theater. The black musician Sammy Davis Jr. was refused a room at the…
Nine Mile Falls
In Spokane as elsewhere, waterpower was the driving force behind industrial development. The dam and powerhouse at Nine Mile Falls are key pieces of Spokane history. This dam and its builder, Jay P.…
Nick Mamer Memorial Clock: Honoring an Aviation Pioneer in Spokane
A remarkable figure in aviation history, Nick Mamer soared to new heights as an accomplished pilot whose achievements captured the world's attention.
Neighborhoods Matter: The Impact of the I-90 Freeway on the East Central Neighborhood, an Oral History - Introduction
Spokane's East Central neighborhood is located just east of Division street and north of Sprague avenue, a stretch of mostly flat land that tapers into the Spokane valley as one moves east and winds…
Native Palouse Falls Creation Story
In the modern world, science explains why the world turns and how natural wonders, such as waterfalls, are created and formed. Prior to modern science, however, there were still answers needed to…
National Hotel
The National Hotel was built in 1905 and is a typical example of the "single room occupancy" type of building, which was a popular style in Spokane at the time. The building is indicative of the SRO…
Nat Reiss and the Spokane Carnival
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…
NAACP Protests Birth of a Nation: The Racist 1915 Silent Film Provoked Controversy
Following the 1915 release of DW Griffith’s racist film “Birth of a Nation,” the NAACP mobilized across the country, including Spokane, to protest the film.
My Name is Jim Wardner
My name is James Fredrick Wardner but my friends call me Jim. Despite the lack of notoriety for my accomplishments, I contributed a great deal to the mining success in the Silver Valley. Because of my…
Mullan, Idaho
Today a small, quiet settlement of 690 people, Mullan, Idaho was once a bustling mining town. Located just four miles west of the Montana border, Mullan was established in 1884. The town was named…
Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute
Towards the end of the 19th century, the United States government was looking to build a fort in the inland Northwest. In 1895, Spokane residents purchased land in the Twickenham Park area and deeded…
Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House
[Note: This location is a private residence, not open to the public.]
This Spokane home has a Hollywood pedigree. It was built to promote the 1948 film, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.…
Mount Spokane: Known as scq’wulsm to the Spokane Tribe, Mount Spokane has been important to local residents for 10.000 years.
While Mount Spokane was never officially a Spokane Park, the Spokane Parks department helped take care of it and was concerned with its future.
Previously known as Mount Baldy and Mount Carlton,…
Mount Saint Michael
The cornerstone for the current Mount St. Michael was laid in 1914, but the history of this Catholic church is much older.
Father Joseph Cataldo arrived in the Inland Northwest in 1865 as a…
Morton School - Memories of a One-Room Schoolhouse
A typical day for a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse was not easy to define. They were challenged to teach grades 1 - 8 in the same class room. Teachers taught all subjects and learned quickly about…
Morgan Block
Much like Henry Sorg who saw the need for inexpensive housing and built the Globe Hotel in 1908, Spokane real estate developer Daniel Morgan hired architect Alfred Jones to design the Fairmont Hotel…
Moore Mansion
In 1889, Frank Rockwood Moore and his wife Sarah Franicis Sherlock Moore began work on their residence in Spokane. Moore had made quite a name for himself in the local community. He was the first…
Montvale
Judge John Blinkley built the Montvale Block in 1899. The Montvale Block was as a Single Resident Occupancy hotel, which meant that much like a hotel each tenant had their own room as a measure of…
Montgomery Wards Building - City Hall
You are looking at the old Montgomery Wards building, now Spokane City Hall. The site of this building is wonderfully situated. It over-looks the Lower Spokane Falls, is next to Riverfront Park, and…
Monroe Street Bridge
The river that lent its name to Spokane has also been a barrier to the development of the city. No sooner was Spokane established than city fathers looked for places to bridge the raging currents.…
Monroe Hall
By the middle of the nineteenth century the Cheney State Normal School continued to expand in spite of the disastrous fire. Only a year after Showalter Hall was built it was apparent that the…
Monkey Business at the Sillman Hotel
The Davenport’s “Matador Room” did not actually feature bullfighting, the Desert Hotel’s “Mirage Room” could only offer such hallucinations as alcohol provided, and the Coeur d’Alene Hotel’s “Donkey…
Missiles, Murder and Mystery
: Nuclear weapons, murder, and UF0s the strange happenings at Atlas No. 6.
A local tax auditor met a grisly fate in a nuclear missile silo in rural Washington State. It is now the home of an internationally renowned UFO expert.
Minnehaha Health Spa and Resort
When Edgar J. Webster came to Spokane in 1883 he planned to practice law. He built his summer home on the outskirts of the growing city of Spokane in a place called Minnehaha. The stone building…
Milwaukee Road Recreational Trail
In 1910, the "Milwaukee Road" extended nearly 1,500 miles as it stretched from Chicago to Seattle. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (CM & SP) was, for a period in the late-19th and…
Milwaukee Road Bridge in Tekoa
This impressive structure is the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul (CM & SP) Viaduct, built in 1909. The CM & SP railway was, for the first few decades of settlement, one of the most important railroad…
Miller Block
You are looking at the Miller Block, built in 1890. Stanley Miller, a co-proprietor of the Spokane Ice Company, bought this land and had a two story wood-post building constructed in 1887. This…