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The Unknowns, Fairmount Cemetery
Some of Spokane's earliest residents lived, or at least died, in anonymity. The Washington State Archives has 71 death records of unidentified persons found in Spokane during the period 1891-1907. …
Potter's Field, Fairmount Cemetery
Section 90 at Fairmount Memorial Park is known as a Potter's Field. This portion of the cemetery was donated, in 1897, by Spokane County for the purpose of burying the indigent and/or unknown persons…
The History of Fairmount Cemetery
Fairmount, like Greenwood and Riverside, is the final resting place for many of the community's early pioneers and city developers - people from the mining, lumbering, railroading, banking, city…
Senator Clarence C. Dill, Fairmount Cemetery
Clarence Cleveland Dill, commonly referred to as C. C., was instrumental in pushing Congress in the early 1930s to fund a study of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to determine the possibility of…
The Colorful Past of Minnehaha Park
According to a long time Spokane resident, the City of Spokane had a reputation of "being a little on the wild side when it came to the proverbial wine, women, and song." By the early 19th Century,…
Mount Spokane: Known as scq’wulsm to the Spokane Tribe, Mount Spokane has been important to local residents for 10.000 years.
While Mount Spokane was never officially a Spokane Park, the Spokane Parks department helped take care of it and was concerned with its future.
Previously known as Mount Baldy and Mount Carlton,…
Tourist Camp at High Bridge Park
This camp site along Hangman creek in High Bridge park was a tourist destination from the early 1920s until the 1950s. Featured in the December 1946 trailer topics magazine, Westward Ho, the article…
Cowley Park
This small park between West Sixth and Seventh Avenue off Division is nestled in the South Hill Medical Complex. This area was where the Spokane Indians established their winter quarters but when…
20th Street Entrance: Manito Park Tour Spokane Park Highlights Tour
The main entrance to Manito Park is now at 18th and Grand, but in earlier years the entrance was at 20th and Grand. While today the area is green with grass and shaded by a few trees, in the first…
Making Way for the Freeway: Liberty Park
Decline of the old Liberty Park began in the 1950s when the Spokane Park Board decided to fill in the pond for health reasons. In 1952 the city decided to dump nonburnable waste into the depression…
Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden: Manito Park Tour Spokane Park Highlights Tour
Before the Japanese Gardens, this area was part of the zoo from 1905 to 1932. This area was home to ostrich and emu.
The Japanese Garden was designed by Nagao Sakurai. He designed 166 gardens all…
Japanese Gardens - Sister City Program: Manito Park Tour
Before entering the Japanese Gardens, face northwest and you will see the Spokane Sister City sign at the corner of Bernard and Shoshone Place.
The Sister City program idea started in the 1940s…
Stadacona Circle
Today a part of Grant Park, Stadacona Circle was one of the earliest parks in Spokane. Once located on Eleventh Avenue between Ivory and Arthur Streets, this small 1.3 acre park was donated to the…
Comstock Park
Comstock Park is one of many philanthropic works in Spokane. By the 1930s, park design had different priorities, recreation rather than contemplation and an emphasis on youth activities. Mr. and Mrs.…
John A. Finch Arboretum
Nestled between two busy highways, the John A. Finch Arboretum is a quiet getaway from the hustle and bustle of Spokane. With only the hum of the highway to distract visitors, this 56 acre park…
Chief Garry Park
Chief Garry Park is the principal place in the city where Chief Spokan Garry is remembered and honored. The park dates back to 1912 when seven acres of land were purchased and set aside as a…
People's Park: Expo '74 and Riverfront Park
Once an Indian winter camp, this area where Hangman Creek (Latah Creek) and the Spokane River merge has been a popular site for campers, transients, and picnickers. According to Curly Jim, from the…
Spokane's Amusement Park: Natatorium Park
In 1968, Natatorium closed. For some it would be the close of an era, for others, it was a long time coming. Though Natatorium was never owned by the Spokane Parks Department, it was a park many…
The Manito Park Zoo: Manito Park Tour Spokane Park Highlights Tour
The Zoo was part of Manito Park from 1905 to 1932. There were several small animal cages near Rose Hill and the rock gardens, which housed skunk, coyote, bobcat, and other animals. While the zoo was…
Corbin Park: Spokane Park Highlights Tour
"Lemonade and garden hats" are the legacy of Corbin Park according to an article in the Spokane Daily Chronicle in 1973. This tranquil, oval shaped park nestled among some of the busiest roads in…
Spokane's First Park: Coeur d'Alene Park: Browne's Addition Tour
On summer evenings you can come to Coeur d'Alene Park in Browne's Addition, bring a picnic and listen to the sounds of different bands enjoying the shade of a tree while the sun sets. If you visited…
Drumheller Springs
The natural history of this park goes back to geological events that shaped this area including lava flows, glacial activity, and the Missoula Floods. All of these events helped form the basalt rock,…
From Brickyard to Park: Cannon Hill Park: This quiet park was once a busy brickyard.
Cannon Hill Park was originally home to a brickyard. Henry Brook discovered a clay deposit in the 1880s and it was used for making bricks. Cannon Hill bricks were widely used in downtown buildings as…
The Pioneer Falls
Extending upstream from where you stand is Inspiration Point and the monuments to the so-called Christian Pioneers. Funded and dedicated by an ecumenical collection of local churches, the monument…
The Great Northern Clocktower: Expo '74 and Riverfront Park Tour
You are standing next to the clock tower of the former Great Northern station. It is one of the few surviving remnants of Havermale Island as it was from the first years of the 20th century until…
The Creation of the Falls: The Indian Falls
You are now looking at the Lower Falls of the Spokane River. This site was important in both the legends and daily lives of the Spokane, the Coeur d'Alene and others in this region.
In one…
The Maple Street Bridge
On July 1, 1958 a crowd of four to five thousand people gathered for the dedication and opening ceremony of the Maple Street Bridge. The $6,000,000 bridge was open for motorists' use, for a toll at…
The Demise of the Shack Dwellers
Known for decades as "Poverty Flats," Peaceful Valley has been home to many unique individuals over the years. Some of the more interesting characters are bonded by their humble residence, the shacks…
A Working Man's Neighborhood
Houses like the one you are facing now, are known as Shotgun style houses. They were labeled as such because it is said that one could stand at the front door and fire a shotgun exiting through the…
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…