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First Congregational Church (Westminster UCC)
First Congregational Church (now called Westminster Congregational Church), located next to Lewis and Clark High School, has a long history. In 1838 when Congregationalists first arrived in the…
The Woman's Club of Spokane
The Woman's Club of Spokane is a beautiful and enduring fixture of the South Hill neighborhood. The brick building standing now remains largely as it was when it was dedicated on November 5, 1928,…
Lewis and Clark High School
Lewis and Clark High School was not always the magnificent landmark it is today. In fact, it was founded in 1883 as schoolhouse called Central School, which became the high school when the city built…
An Overlook to Memorialize a Renowned Geologist
The Fryxell Overlook is a wonderful viewpoint to see Palouse Falls and the Palouse River. The gazebo is dedicated to R.H. Fryxell and located a short hike south of the parking lot at Palouse Falls…
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 Late, Great Meyers Falls: The Annexation of Meyers Falls
How Meyers Falls became Kettle Falls.
Bertha Finley Brisbois: Bertha Finley Brisbois Brings Schools to the Reservation
From Boarding School to a University Scholarship
The Fishery at Kettle Falls
Beneath the placid waters of Lake Roosevelt at this location lies what was once one of the most important native sites on the Columbia plateau - Kettle Falls. For thousands of years, Indians from as…
Salmon Past and Present
The Chief Joseph Fish Hatchery, being constructed by the Colville Tribe on this site, is part of an attempt to restore not only some threatened species, but also an endangered way of life. For many…
Chief Joseph Dam
Bridgeport, WA was fading in into the surrounding fields and orchards, but was revived with the construction of the Chief Joseph Dam. Nestled on the outside of a bend in the Columbia River, the small…
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.
Mason City
In the depths of America's Great Depression, news of a huge construction project in Washington State brought a flood of unemployed men seeking jobs. The "mushroom towns of the Grand Coulee" sprouted…
B Street
This quiet street once had a national reputation - for drunkenness and debauchery.
Elephant in the Desert
Even before the dam was complete, Grand Coulee attracted visitors eager to view this unique geological landscape. Once construction started on the dam, sightseers came from all over the world to…
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,…
Fairmont Creamery and Cold Storage: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
On the outskirts of Spokane's Central Business District lies a scattering of brick warehouses littered with the fading signs of a different era, including one advertising the Fairmont Creamery and…
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…
Seely G. Mudd Chapel: Whitworth's Home for God: The chapel, where many gather to rejoice, fellowship, and worship.
Much has changed from the original Whitworth University chapel days where attendance was mandatory, knitting could get you reprimanded and a headline in the newspaper, and politics were debated…
The House of The "Black Robes"
A home to generations of Jesuit missionaries
Historical African American Neighborhoods in Spokane: In Spokane's earliest decades, neighborhoods were segregated by wealth, not by race.
Before 1920, Spokane neighborhoods had no formal policies segregating housing by race. Successful Black Spokanites erected fine residents all over town, many of which still stand today.
Camp Seven Mile: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Creation of Riverside State Park
A lone chimney and and some wayside panels are all that remain of the camp of Civilian Conservation Corps 949th Company.
The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Inland Northwest: "We can take it!"
From 1933 to 1942, Fort George Wright was the headquarters of the Inland Northwest Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Moon Crater: A Spokanite Who Brought A Piece of the Moon to Expo 74’
Unnoticed by many as they pass by on the Centennial Trail, "Moon Crater" by famous sculptor Glen Michaels is part of the many art installations at the World’s Fair Expo in 1974.
The Wednesday Art Club: Black Spokane's Leading Cultural Organization
The Wednesday Art Club of Spokane was much more than an art club. The African-American women-lead organization gave back to a city that did not always recognize them.
Airway Heights, Washington’s Unknown Sundown Town: One of Eastern Washington's newer communities was founded with racial restrictions
“Airway Heights celebrated its 50-year history June 14, 2005 and has Carl M. and Flora K. Lundstrom to thank for early city-building. The Lundstrom’s were the first to plat the land, donate parcels…
The Evolution of Sunset Field: How the United States Military Repurposed Spokane’s Airfield
When the United States was pulled into World War Two thousands of American businesses were repurposed to better support the war effort. It was this direct response to an overseas threat that…
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…
Fight for the Spokane County Seat: A Midnight Raid and a Grand Steal
Vigilante justice and mob law took Spokane County by storm on the fateful night of March 21st, 1881. A group of eight disgruntled men from Cheney under the leadership of John Still, the Cheney…
The Cursed City of Spokane
Long time Spokanites have a handy explanation for when things go wrong in city government- a curse
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