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Cheney's Interurban Depot: A Reminder of the Electric Trolleys
100 Years Ago, Light Rail Connected Many of the Region's Small Towns to Spokane
The Tale of Sound Waves: EWU Radio Station: EWU's own radio station has a 70-year history!
The KEWC Radio Station started broadcasting in 1950 on 89.5 FM. The station played classical music such as Beethoven, Mozart, Schuman as well as history commentaries about the Inland Northwest. The…
Edwall, Washington: The Farming Community of Edwall, Washington
This small farming community is called Edwall, so named for the Swedish immigrant brothers Eric and Peter Edwall who initially homesteaded the site in the 1870s. The Edwalls decided to settle in this…
From Faculty to Frat Boys: Philena Apartments
Apartment building originally built to house female faculty is now inhabited by frat boys.
Deadly Fog: The South Cheney Train Crash of 1916: Cheney Train Crash of 1916
One hundred years ago on a cold foggy February morning, Cheney’s worst railroad accident occurred at this spot. The Northern Pacific’s North Coast Limited passenger train plowed into a Burlington…
Plane Crashes in Mount Spokane State Park: Airplane Pieces Deep in the Forest
Ask a local resident in Eastern Washington about Mt. Spokane and they will assume you are talking about its skiing slopes, hiking trails or campgrounds. Ask about what else it might be famous for you…
The Cursed City of Spokane
Long time Spokanites have a handy explanation for when things go wrong in city government- a curse
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.
Cheney Electric Light Works and Leifer Apartments: A sign of prosperity in the rural countryside
From generating electricity to embalming corpses, this 19th-century Cheney building has had many uses.
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…
Greenmound Cemetery: Beyond The Veil: This hidden Prairie Cemetery is rich in history
Green Mound is a prairie cemetery a few miles east of Cheney. It was started by the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows in 1883. “Burying the dead was taken very seriously by early Odd Fellows, and…
The Training School
Would be teachers needed a place they could practice, and the Training School provided. Due to competition with the Cheney Public School, this sometimes meant dealing with the community's most…
Eastern Washington University Senior Hall: Eastern Washington University Senior Hall
During the early years, Eastern Washington University was a normal school, which was the term for a teacher’s college. Most students were women, and by 1919, the administration decided it was time for…
Cheney's Masonic Temple
Like many of the commercial structures in downtown Cheney, the Masonic Temple has had many tenants and uses over the decades.
Two influential architects of the 19th century, Kirtland Cutter and…
Robert Reid Lab School
The Robert Reid Lab School started as a training school in 1908 where college students did student teaching with elementary students from the community. This was important because the normal schools…
Dick's Hambugers: Space Age Architecture and Darn Cheap Hamburgers
Dick’s Drive-in is an iconic Spokane business. The drive up parking, the open air counter and the buildings silhouette call back to the googie architecture of a 1960’s California Drive-In. On the sign…
Spokane Stockyards: A reminder of Spokane's agricultural past
From the 1880s to 1999, Spokane was a town of slaughterhouses. The Old Union Stockyards were the last of their kind.
Riverside Park Wastewater Treatment Plant
Early spokanites used the Spokane River as a sewer and even a garbage dump - rendering the water undrinkable. After decades of work and hundreds of millions of dollars, the rivers health is improving.
The Boundary Commission: Drawing the International Border While Calling Marcus Home
How is an international border drawn and who does the drawing?
The Steamboat Forty-Nine: Gold Mining on the Upper Columbia
Captain Leonard White piloted the first steamboat to cross the 49th parallel bringing miners and supplies to the goldfields of British Columbia.
A Hospital For Washington's Insane: Changing the Way Washington Cared For the Mentally Ill
Eastern Washington Hospital For The Insane promised humane treatment for the mentally ill.
Locked Up For Life: An Early Spokane Celebrity's Fall From Grace
Susan Glover spent her golden years at Eastern Washington State Hospital For the Insane after one terrible day.
A Frontier Doctor Rides into Rockford
: Dr. William P. Grubbe Settles Down and Builds a Medical Practice
In 1880, Dr. William P. Grubbe and his companion were attacked by a band of Indians. His friend and his horse killed, Grubbe grabbed the other horse and rode for his life. In Rockford, Washington he…
Hospital of the Sacred Heart: Spokane's First Medical Facility: Sisters of Charity Arrive in 1886 to Begin Construction.
"A visitor in the hospital will see everything in perfect order, the patients cheerful ... and the always kind-faced Sisters ... like angels of mercy."
The Mistress on the Saloon Roof: A Tale of a Blatant Affair and an Unsuccessful Escape
A woman is blatantly cheated on by her husband while cleaning the rooms in the boarding house. She found her husband’s mistress outside on the roof of the saloon next door, trying to escape.
Alberto Ricardo: Walla Walla’s First Mexican Success Story: A Story of Forgotten Mexican Pioneers
Among the very first Mexican immigrants to eastern Washington, Alberto Ricardo overcame intense prejudice to become a successful printer, newspaper owner, and town father in Dayton, Washington.
The Shuttleworths of Fort Colville: A Surprising Family in Early Eastern Washington
From India to Fort Colville and Okanagan, Henry Shuttleworth and his family lived interesting lives in 19th and 20th century west.
Early African-American Pioneers in Spokane
These early African-American pioneers helped to define the city's black community.
The Sanchez Family: Undocumented Immigrants Prospering in the Yakima Valley: The journey towards the “American Dream”
The ambitious young family that migrated into the Yakima Valley undocumented in search of agricultural opportunities in 1909.
Bill Jackson: The Story of a Mixed-Race Indian in Early Spokane: Part 1: From the Prairie to the Prison
Abandoned by his white father, Bill Jackson struggled to navigate Spokane frontier society in the late 19th century. Hardships and trauma pushed him towards a treacherous crime.