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Hill Brothers Building
Originally, the building in front of you was a wood frame structure that was occupied by a saloon and gaming hall. The saloon, along with almost all its neighbors, was destroyed by the fire of 1889.…
Hyde Building and Annex
Until the late 1900's, when it was demolished, this site housed the architecturally interesting Hyde Building and Annex. The six-story Hyde Building was constructed in 1890 to house office spaces and…
Robertson Building
Frederick C. Robertson bought this land in 1912. The three-story building is embellished with coupled windows, flat brick and Florentine arches, belt courses of red and white bricks and a projecting…
Raznik Building
Young cities in the 1900s, especially those who were recovering from post-fire downtown, exercised freedom and ingenuity when it came to rebuilding Spokane's infrastructure. New technologies allowed…
Commission Building: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour - Story 9
Constructed in 1906 by James M. Geraghty, the Commission Building was one of Spokane's early produce warehouses. Built for the Rasher-Kingman-Herrin Company, the Commission Building stored and…
Broadview Dairy: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The Broadview Dairy sign is a reminder of the importance of local dairies in turn-of-the-century Spokane. Indeed, milk was a staple food in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was…
Joe Albi Stadium: Local Teams Find A Home to Play
As Spokane grew in size and importance, it became apparent that the city would need a stadium for local and visiting sports teams as well as traveling music acts.
The decision to build came before…
The Sherwood Building and its Terracotta Gargoyles
This grand building, recently renamed from the Sherwood to the Cutter Building, is one of many Spokane landmarks designed by Kirtland Cutter. Famed architect Kirtland Kelsey Cutter moved to Spokane in…
Spokane Baseball Club is a Local Passion
Baseball was America's national pastime before Spokane was even a city. As the railroads moved across the west, Midwestern baseball promoter John Sloane Barnes moved to Spokane in 1890 to help…
Spokane's Other Indians, A Baseball Story: Avoiding Stereotypes, Building Bridges
Spokane's own professional baseball team has undergone a lot of changes since 1903!
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…
The Mullan Tree
North of I-90, just off of exit 28 is a short interpretive trail dedicated to the memory of Captain John Mullan and special 4th of July celebration.
While excavating a military road in the…
Diseases of Men: Venereal diseases were common in early Spokane, and desperate suffers sought out quack treatments.
Early Spokane was a town full of working men and working women. For laborers throughout the region the city was a refuge and a pleasuring ground. Miners, loggers, and agricultural workers would come…
Deep Creek School
The Deep Creek school was built in 1905, to replace an earlier, one-room schoolhouse that stood at the same spot.
The town of Deep Creek was founded in 1883 as Deep Creek Falls. An 1889 guide for…
Rise and Fall of Valleyford
The tiny community of Valleyford has a story like many of the small towns of the Palouse. The area was first settled in the 1880s, and Valleyford was incorporated in 1906. The town enjoyed some…
The Cheney Lynchings: Mob violence or ethnic cleansing?
In the early 1880s two men were hanged without trial, one Chinese and the other a Spokane Indian.
John R. Monaghan Statue: Martyr to An Obscure War: Killed by Alfred Thayer Mahan
This dashing young man who perches in front of the Spokane Club, leaning on his sword and staring down the traffic on Monroe with steely-eyed determination is John R. Monaghan, who died because of a…
Mammoth Undertaking for Cheney Students
In the early 1990s, second-graders in Mrs. Sara Jane Aebly’s class at Windsor Elementary School discovered that Washington State did not have an official state fossil. Encouraged by their teacher,…
Spokane's Whites-Only Sperm Bank: [Tasteless Masturbation Pun Here]
In the 1990s Spokane gained national attention for a whites-only sperm bank. Things did not go as planned, and the spank bank soon tanked.
Washington State Archives, Digital Archives
Opening in 2004, the Washington State Archives Building was created to house both the Eastern Washington Regional Archives and both state and local government Digital Archives. It was the first…
Pearce Hall
Pearce Hall was built in 1964 as a male dormitory. Currently the largest residence hall on campus, Peace Hall consists of 12 floors, 7 coed and 4 gender specific floors, as well as a main lobby with a…
David Lowe House
*Please note: This is a private residence, please be respectful of the property and the resident's right to privacy.
This beautifully crafted house was built in 1904 by local retired farmer David…
Governor Martin Alumni House
The house that now contains the Eastern Washington University Alumni Association, was originally one of three houses that Governor Clarence Martin owned in Cheney. The house served as the Governor's…
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge was created in response to Executive Order Number 7681 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which was signed on July 30, 1937. The refuge, originally named the…
The Harrington Opera House and Bank Block
The Harrington Opera House and Bank Block building housed the Bank of Harrington, one of the first banks in the city. The building was designed by local construction firm J.R. Burrill and Company and…
The Many Names of Cheney, Washington: What were the many names of Cheney throughout the years?
Both whites and Indians had many names for Cheney, but the opportunity for patronage from a powerful railroad executive finally settled the matter.
Cheney Fire of 1889: In the 1800s, American cities were often built of wood and heated with fire. Sometimes, they burned.
Miscreant act leads to disaster for Cheney in 1889.
The Steptoe Defeat, 1858
Steptoe's foray into Coeur d'Alene Indian lands in the spring of 1858 led to the Wright Campaign against these people later in the year.
Time’s Up: Spokane Community College's Clock Tower will soon be torn down to make way for the construction of the North Spokane corridor
The sands of time are running low for the massive concrete Clock Tower that stands at the entrance of the Spokane Community College. The Washington State Department of Transportation has been trying…
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…