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Great Northern Railway
The Great Northern railroad is the soil on which the town of Hillyard grew.
James J. Hill chose this location for his railroad terminal in 1892. The small town rapidly expanded around the railroad…
Graves Gym: Dedicated to the Man That Made Whitworth Possible: Graves Gym: Historic Home of the Pirates
Graves gym is one of the most important buildings in Whitworth's history. Up until the time it opened in 1942, Whitworth did not have an appropriate gymnasium to play intercollegiate basketball. …
Grant Park
Grant Park sits in the newly revitalized Perry Street District on the lower South Hill. This park is unique in that it was originally designed to be a playfield, originally called the U. S. Grant…
Grand Coulee Dam: Electricity for Jackrabbits
Larger than all of the Pyramids of Giza put together, this mammoth concrete structure began as a dream in a small arid Central Washington farm town. In 1918, Billy Clapp, a lawyer in Ephrata,…
Grand Army of the Republic, Greenwood Cemetery
In the aftermath of the American Civil War, veterans of the Union Army formed the fraternal organization, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1866. The initial purpose for the group was simply friendship…
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…
Good Fishing on the Main Street of Marcus
Once a thriving Columbia River town, the site of Marcus now lies beneath the waters of Lake Roosevelt.
Gold Fever
In the midst of the Great Depression, the Spokane Chamber of Commerce declared that the gold rush was on in Spokane Washington. Captain J. Richard Brown, who was a mining engineer, gave 9 speeches at…
Glover House
Private Residence
James Nettle Glover is commonly referred to as the "Father of Spokane." He, accompanied by his wife Susan Tabitha Crump Glover, essentially created the city after purchasing 160…
Glover Field
The city of Spokane purchased land in Peaceful Valley to build an athletic stadium in 1912. The Stadium boasted a six-lane running track and bleachers that could hold 10,000 spectators. The Stadium…
Ghost Town of Elberton: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
The towns of the Palouse followed similar patterns of early growth as white settlers flooded into the area, followed by a long and gradual decline with the greater mechanization of farming. Some…
The Crescent Service Building: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour - Story 5
At the turn of the 20th century, Spokane boomed as a wealthy trade and industrial center in the Inland Northwest. Like all growing cities, there was a demand for imported goods. The Crescent…
Welcome to the Ghost Signs Tour: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Advertising is not a new phenomenon in America. Print advertising for goods and services goes as far back as the seventeenth century with the spread of literacy in the colonial period. The…
The Saranac Hotel: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Originally a Single Room Occupancy Hotel (SRO), the Saranac provided housing for hundreds of working-class laborers migrating to Spokane during a time of emerging industries. Built in 1910 by Coulee…
Spokane Public Market: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Recognizing the success of Seattle's public marketplace, early Spokane residents eagerly sought to replicate it. In August of 1908, after many politically disputes, Spokane's first public market…
The Columbus Buggy Company and Child Bros. & Day: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
This ordinary brick building on the corner of Lincoln and Railroad Alley stands as a reminder of the growth of business in early Spokane.
Built in 1898 by the merchants Rasher and Kingman, it is…
Regal Shoe Company: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Elmer J. Bliss established the Regal Shoe Company in Boston in 1893. It became the most successful company of its kind in the world until it closed in 1922 during the economic slump following WWI.…
J&D Paints: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The faded J&D Paints advertisement on the side of this building describes more than paint, it is a relic of a time when Spokane was a city of neighborhoods, each with its own miniature commercial…
Henry George Cigars: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
There is a striking ghost sign painted on the east side of the building at 27 West Main Street (now Harmon Autoglass) that suggests the rough-and-tumble character of the neighborhood in the 1910s when…
The Washington Cracker Company: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The Washington Cracker Company building, which still stands at the corner of Bernard and Pacific Streets, is one of the most visible reminders of Spokane's foray into the industrial world. Its high…
The Globe Hotel: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The railroad lines, and the limitless job opportunities that came with them, brought a great number of families to the Inland Northwest in search for better lives. Seeing the need for inexpensive…
Jensen-Byrd Warehouse: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
In 1909 the Minnesota hardware company, Marshall Wells, hired the Minnesota native and Spokane resident Albert Held to design their Spokane warehouse. This building was designed as a warehouse at a…
Steam Plant: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
The Spokane Steam Plant began as simple cost saving measure. In the early 1900's the Trustee Company owned five buildings in Spokane's downtown, and hit upon the idea of producing their steam heat…
Getting a Goat: Expo '74 and Riverfront Park Tour
Surrounded by a grotto of basalt columns is one of the most perennially popular remnants of Riverfront Park's past - the "Garbage Goat." Sculpted by Sister Paula Turnbull, a local nun and leading…
Garland Movie Theater
The Garland Movie Theater opened in late November 1945 to a line that stretched around the block with the movie It's a Pleasure, starring Sonja Henie. According to the Spokane Daily Chronicle the…
Garland Milk Bottle
The Garland Milk Bottle was built in 1935, along with its sister location downtown. Billed as "designed to build better men and women by making dairy products more attractive to boys and girls" with a…
Gaiser Conservatory: Manito Park Tour
The original greenhouse was on the corner of 18th and Grand until 1912, when it was relocated to its current location. It was renovated in 1974 in anticipation of the World Expo, and the central dome…
Frontier Violence in Colfax: The Courthouse Lynchings
Nineteenth century Americans loved a good courthouse. Here in 1889, the residents of Whitman County constructed a grand gothic palace of justice that stood prominently until 1957 when it was torn…
From Temperance to Microbrews: MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition
Temperance activist Carrie Nation of Kansas was famous for smashing saloons with a hatchet in the days before Prohibition. Before Nation's 1910 visit to Spokane, the mayor ordered saloon-goers to…
From Faculty to Frat Boys: Philena Apartments
Apartment building originally built to house female faculty is now inhabited by frat boys.