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Saltese Cemetery
Saltese Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the valley. The name Saltese derives from the Coeur d'Alene Chief Andrew Seltice who sold this piece of land, known now as the Saltese Flats, to…
Edgecliff Sanitarium: The White Plague in Spokane
Tuberculosis was the most devastating disease of the 19th and 20th centuries. Isolation was the most effective public health intervention.
Treaty Rock
In June of 1871 Chief Seltice of the Coeur d'Alene tribe and German settler Frederick Post, made a verbal agreement. Post was granted 200 acres of native land to build a sawmill. As a part of the…
Harry Tracy the Outlaw
With the flash of a gun Harry Tracy the Infamous Outlaw lay dead by his own hand in a field in Lincoln County. After months on the run from authorities throughout Oregon and Washington, the law caught…
St. Michael's Mission Marker: This obscure monument tells a story of Catholic history in Spokane.
All but forgotten in a residential neighborhood, a granite marker stands in one of Spokane's most historic spots.
The Woodward Building: The many lives of a Spokane commercial building
One of the oldest buildings in Spokane, the Woodward has hosted everything from frontier saloons to Chinese-American clubs in its almost 130-year history.
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…
Spokane Public Bath House
The Spokane Public Bath House was part of the Spokane Parks' master plan, a result of the vision of the Olmstead brothers of the famous family of landscape architects responsible for New York's…
The Northern Pacific Railroad Depot (Amtrak Station): Barely visible beneath frequent remodels, Spokane's Amtrak station is originally the Great Northern Railroad depot.
The Northern Pacific Railroad Depot, now the Amtrak Station, was the site of two events in the dramatic labor history of Spokane.
In April of 1894, "under the flare of gasoline torches,"…
Workers' Memorial: "Making a Living Should Not Include Dying."
Since 1989, Spokane unions and workers have observed Workers' Memorial Day to remember those who have died on the job or as a result of work-related illness. The Workers' Memorial here at Mission…
American Legion Cenotaph: A commemoration of veterans who served the country.
The American Legion Cenotaph reflects the development of Armistice Day and the honoring of WWI veterans.
Felts Field
Felts Field is not only the oldest airport in the Spokane area but is also one of the oldest federally designated airstrips in the country.
Located near Rutter and Fancher and along the banks of…
1917: IWW Offices Raided & Martial Law Declared
In 1917, this building was the home of the Legal Defense Fund office of the Industrial Workers of the World--a union of unskilled workers whose vigorous tactics made them both feared and derided as…
Five Mile Prairie Schoolhouse
The original Five Mile Prairie Schoolhouse was built in 1901. It was a small one-room building that housed fourteen students and one teacher. In 1912 the school, which had become too small for the…
Hillyard High School
The original Hillyard High School building, built in 1907, had an initial enrollment of fourteen students and one teacher. By 1911, the student population had grown exponentially to 105 students,…
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…
Steptoe Butte: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
A winding fifteen minute drive up to the top of Steptoe Butte offers some of the most breathtaking views in Eastern Washington. On a clear day, visitors are greeted by a panoramic view of nearly the…
Tohotonimme/Pine Creek/Steptoe Battlefield: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
This is the Tohotonimme battlefield where on May 17, 1858 a combined force of around 650 Spokan, Palus, and Coeur d' Alene warriors fought against the encroachments of Col. Edward Steptoe and his…
Qualchan Hanging Site: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
This is the site of a murder.
The 1850s were a violent time in northwest history as a growing tide of American immigrants encroached upon Indian land. In 1855 the first governor of Washington…
The Mullan Road: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
You are standing near the path of the Mullan Road, the first wagon road across the northern Rocky Mountains.
Since before Lewis and Clark, it was an American dream to establish an effective route…
The Interurban Railroad: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
All but forgotten today, the Palouse once had its own mass transit--the S&IE Interurban Railway, affectionately known as "the Bug."
As the population of the western states dramatically increased in…
Rosalia,WA: Waypoints in the Palouse Tour
Welcome to Rosalia, Washington, a town whose history is very similar to the other agricultural communities of the Palouse.
Rosalia was first settled in 1872 and was named after the wife of the…
Farmington,WA
Like most towns in Whitman County, Farmington was once a prosperous and rapidly expanding community during the early twentieth century. An abundance of nearby timber and a close water source was what…
Historic Malden: From Boom to Bust
In the northwest corner of Whitman County, alongside Pine Creek and hidden amongst the undulating hills of Palouse wheat farming country, sits the town of Malden, Washington. This tiny town was once…
"Hole-in-the-Ground: Remote, Secluded - Intriguing!"
Welcome to Hole-in-the-Ground, where you will notice one of the most peculiar geological formations in the region. As part of the channeled scablands, Hole-in-the-Ground was created by the powerful…
St. Boniface Church in Uniontown
You are looking at St. Boniface Church, named after the German apostle. It is the first consecrated Catholic Church in the State of Washington. The church not only represents the spiritual…
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…
Rockford Necktie Festival
Before it was known as "Spokane County's preeminent grain market," Rockford earned a reputation for vigilante justice. Like many other Western farming and ranching communities in the 1880s, Rockford…
Palouse Falls
You are looking at one of the most impressive waterfalls in the Northwest and a staple of the region's geology. The Palouse is full of beautiful landscapes, but the most impressive by far is the…
1910: The Palouse River Floods Colfax
"Hundreds Homeless at Colfax - Driven to the Hillsides by Raging Floods - Houses Swept Away by the Rushing Waters"
The front-page headline of the March 3, 1910 edition of the Spokane Daily…