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Susan Crump Glover:
First Wife of James Nettle Glover: Notable for Her Absence in Local History
Susan Crump Glover moved to Spokane Falls with her husband, James, in August 1873. Even though there is much historical information about James—the Father of Spokane—there is a curious lack of…
Sutton Hall
By the 1922-1923 school year the Cheney State Normal School had undoubtedly achieved success as a teachers training college. At the end of that year the school graduated 1,764 students with teaching…
Taft: The Wickedest City in America
By the early 1900s, the rough and tumble frontier towns of America were dying off, slowly becoming gentrified and developed into respectable settlements. Taft, Montana was one town that wasn't going…
That Place Where Ghosts of Salmon Jump, Spokane Falls
At the Spokane Public Library's Overlook Park there is a platform overlooking Spokane Falls. It was here that artist and former Spokane resident Sherman Alexie was inspired to write his poem, "That…
The “Invisible Empire” on Riverside Ave: The KKK of the 1920s and 1930s in Spokane
During the 1920s and 1930s, Spokane's Riverside Avenue was more than a bustling hub of downtown commerce—it was also a shadowy stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Behind unassuming office doors, the…
The 4th of July Regatta on Lake Coeur d’Alene: A true celebration is incomplete without things that are loud and go fast, that is how the Coeur d'Alene 4th of July festivities began.
Forty horsepower engines and twelve year olds racing! Newspaper records show the first competitive rooster tails spouted over lake Coeur d’Alene on July 3rd, 1913, for the early 20th century, Coeur…
The Alternate Uses of Fairmount Cemetery
On any given day, you will find that Fairmount Memorial Park is used for much more than the interment of the dead. Located at the end of a neighborhood drive, the Park is used for ... well, a park. …
The Aluminum Fountain
The symmetrical tall sculpture in front of you was created by George Tsutakawa in 1974. George Tsutakawa has created fountains all over the United States and Japan. In congruence with Mr. Tsutakawas…
The American Firebrick Company
This is the site of the American Firebrick Company. Charles P. Oudin, Lucien Oudin, James Kilbreth, and Frank Watson started the American Firebrick Company in 1902. Although it is located 15 miles…
The American Legion Building
The commercial Renaissance Revival style structure that dominates the intersection of Washington Street and W. Riverside Avenue is a spectacle of the wealth acquired through the Coeur d'Alene mining…
The Apple Boom and Otis Orchards: Orchards and canals once dominated this area
Washington's commercial apple industry got its start in the Spokane Valley
The Army Years at Fort Spokane: The Army years at Fort Spokane
Soldiers of Fort Spokane acted as a buffer between the Indian reservations and white settlers
The Arrival of the Paper Mill at Woodard
Originally called Woodard, or Woodard Station, after the family who owned the land on either side of the tracks, the district that is now Millwood was a little railroad town. The arrival of the Inland…
The Balkan Hotel
The Balkan Hotel was built in 1909 as a Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel. SROs were lodging houses that provided basic rooms for laborers that often were single males. The hotel was built at a time…
The Ball and Chain Lane: The Homes for Married Students: Ball and Chain Lane: an affectionate name or a critical social commentary?
Hidden in the eastern corner of Whitworth campus, located behind the HUB where the parking lot currently is, stood a collection of residences once known as College Homes. These apartments came to be…
The Bank of Starbuck
The Bank of Starbuck has stood for over 100 years and looks ahead for the next century. When the bank was constructed in 1904, there were no federal protections for depositors. What kept money safe…
The Benewah Milk Bottle
The Benewah Milk just off I-90 is an unmistakable downtown Spokane landmark. It is one of two Milk Bottle buildings in Spokane: one on Garland Avenue (built in 1934), and another on Cedar Street (the…
The Benny and Joon House
The Benny and Joon house is located at 301 N. Cedar Street in Peaceful Valley. The movie was released in 1993 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cast of the film included Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson,…
The Blossoms of Spokane's Fruit
This unassuming building is a reminder of Spokane's important early history as the center of a fruit-growing region, and also of the many brick warehouses that once dominated the eastern edge of the…
The Boundary Commission: Drawing the International Border While Calling Marcus Home
How is an international border drawn and who does the drawing?
The Box: Sweat Box or Sewer?
What do you do with a drunken soldier? Park historians are unsure what this metal-lidded hole in the ground was used for, but some say “the box” was a punishment for soldiers who broke the rules.
The Burch Brothers Go to War: Three Spokane Lads in the First World War
“I have no feeling or human sympathy for a Hun. They are treacherous and brutal and have no sense of fairness whatever. But they will get an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." --Charles Burch
The Call and The Challenge
The sculpture in front of you is called The Call and The Challenge. It was erected by Ken Spiering in 1986 to commemorate Sacred Heart Medical Center's 100th year anniversary. The piece depicts Mother…
The Carnegie Library
In 1905, a growing city needed a new library. Carnegie libraries were built with donated funds from the Scottish-American millionaire Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie believed that a "man who dies rich, dies…
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist
In the 1920s, Episcopal Bishop Edward Makin Cross endeavored to create a successor to the All Saints Cathedral, which stood Downtown. He contracted the services of congregation member Harold C.…
The Cedar Street Bridges: Cedar Street Bridge Public Market
The Cedar Street Bridge is the home of a mall of unique shops. This structure was the result of Scott Glickenhaus's dream to save the auto bridge and fashion it after the Ponte Vecchio in Florence,…
The Centennial Sculpture
What's that in the river? The stainless steel sculpture floating in the Spokane River was created by Harold Balazs in 1978. It was dedicated to the city in 1981 in celebration of the City of Spokane's…
The Ceremony of Tears: The rising waters of Lake Roosevelt ended a 10,000-year native tradition
As Kettle Falls, a popular Native American fishing and gathering spot slipped slipped below the surface of Lake Roosevelt, Indians gathered for one final ceremony.
The Chamberlin House: The work of a forgotten Spokane builder.
In the early years of the 20th century, Gilbert Chamberlin and his son Ernest created much of the West Central neighborhood.
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.