Fresh Air for All

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Spokane's basalt outcroppings and deep river gorge captivated Boston landscape designer John Charles Olmsted. His firm, Olmsted Brothers, was instrumental in spreading an urban planning movement called City Beautiful across America. While old cities struggled to create parks from their existing street grids, new Western cities had an opportunity to start from scratch. Public parks, it was thought, would provide residents with fresh air, exercise and a reprieve from hectic city life, as well as stimulate commercial development. Between 1903 and 1908 the Olmsted Brothers created park plans for Seattle, Portland and Spokane; they urged Spokane to cherish and preserve the gorge in its natural state.

MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition is told on the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture campus in Spokane's Browne's Addition, with additional highlights at 15 sites in Spokane and eastern Washington. The exhibit experience (February 22, 2014 - January 2016) weaves stories and programs about Inland Northwest people, places and events by capitalizing on the MAC's extraordinary collection. www.northwestmuseum.org

Spokane Historical presents 15 regional and city tours in partnership with the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and its 100 Stories exhibition.