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The Boundary Commission: Drawing the International Border While Calling Marcus Home
How is an international border drawn and who does the drawing?
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
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.
The Cursed City of Spokane
Long time Spokanites have a handy explanation for when things go wrong in city government- a curse
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…
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…
From Faculty to Frat Boys: Philena Apartments
Apartment building originally built to house female faculty is now inhabited by frat boys.
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…
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…
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
1994 B-52 Crash, Fairchild Air Force Base
The worst week in the history of Fairchild Air Force Base ended in a tragic, fiery explosion.
Cheney's Telephone Switchboard
Switchboards and the telecommunication revolution in Cheney.
The Many Names of Cheney, Washington: What were the many names of Cheney throughout the years?
Both whites and Indians had many names for Cheney, but the opportunity for patronage from a powerful railroad executive finally settled the matter.
Bennett Block
A prominent downtown building's namesake once threatened a Spokane newspaper editor at gunpoint.
Hangman or Latah Creek?: What’s in a name? The Strange Saga of Hangman Creek
Is the creek in front of you called Hangman or Latah Creek? It depends on who you ask.
Hangman Creek
Hangman Creek is one of the Spokane River’s largest tributaries and is surrounded by lush meadows and farmland. It once provided local tribes with food sources such as trout, salmon and freshwater…
Wildlife on the South Hill Bluffs
Like most of the landscape in Eastern Washington, the South Hill Bluffs in Spokane reveal the incredible influence of Lake Missoula’s ice dam that broke apart and surged through the area around 20,000…
Vinegar Flats: The Keller-Lorenz Vinegar Works
The area known as Vinegar Flats has a diverse history and was once home to local tribes, pioneers from the East coast, as well as new immigrants moving into Spokane. As early as 1874 there were small…
The Gifford Odd Fellows: The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows were not so odd.
An organization that spread across America and the world like a wildfire, The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a fraternal organization that was the first of its kind to include women. The Odd…
A Snapshot in the Life of John McAdams Webster: A Coast to Coast Adventure from West Point to Fort Spokane
Plagued by poor health, John McAdams Webster served in the U.S Army at a time when military conflict was unlikely. But no matter where his career took him, he served with distinction. As a school…
Indian Scouts at Fort Spokane: A Failed Experiment or Cultural Resistance?
Native American scouts were widely used by the US Army beginning with the Revolutionary War. Indian scouts helped the military navigate through unfamiliar terrain and cultures. These native men,…