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Fresh Air for All: MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition
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…
Bing & Mildred: MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition
Singers Bing Crosby and Mildred Bailey shared humble beginnings in Spokane's jazz scene. Bailey was singing the blues in a popular Los Angeles speakeasy when her brother, Al Rinker, lured Crosby into…
Regal Shoe Company: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Elmer J. Bliss established the Regal Shoe Company in Boston in 1893. It became the most successful company of its kind in the world until it closed in 1922 during the economic slump following WWI.…
The Columbus Buggy Company and Child Bros. & Day: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
This ordinary brick building on the corner of Lincoln and Railroad Alley stands as a reminder of the growth of business in early Spokane.
Built in 1898 by the merchants Rasher and Kingman, it is…
F.A. Williams Pioneer Ford: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour - Story 7
Before the automobile, Spokane moved at a much slower pace. Across America, city streets were filled with pedestrians, horses, buggies, and streetcars-- all moving at speeds below 10 mph. Like many…
Boots Bakery and Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Don't let this bakery's cheery exterior fool you, Boots Bakery is serious about keeping things local. While renovating the space, the owners partially uncovered what is probably the best preserved…
Spokane Public Market: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Recognizing the success of Seattle's public marketplace, early Spokane residents eagerly sought to replicate it. In August of 1908, after many politically disputes, Spokane's first public market…
The Saranac Hotel: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Originally a Single Room Occupancy Hotel (SRO), the Saranac provided housing for hundreds of working-class laborers migrating to Spokane during a time of emerging industries. Built in 1910 by Coulee…
Npil'x: "Hazy Area"
This spot, called "hazy area," was for generations one of the prime salmon fishing spots on the upper Columbia.
Npil'x refers to the area on the west side of the mouth of the Sanpoil River and…
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…
Welcome to the Ghost Signs Tour: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour
Advertising is not a new phenomenon in America. Print advertising for goods and services goes as far back as the seventeenth century with the spread of literacy in the colonial period. The…
The Crescent Service Building: Ghost Signs of Spokane Tour - Story 5
At the turn of the 20th century, Spokane boomed as a wealthy trade and industrial center in the Inland Northwest. Like all growing cities, there was a demand for imported goods. The Crescent…
"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…
Milwaukee Road Recreational Trail
In 1910, the "Milwaukee Road" extended nearly 1,500 miles as it stretched from Chicago to Seattle. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (CM & SP) was, for a period in the late-19th and…
Chief Joseph Dam
Bridgeport, WA was fading in into the surrounding fields and orchards, but was revived with the construction of the Chief Joseph Dam. Nestled on the outside of a bend in the Columbia River, the small…
Salmon Past and Present
The Chief Joseph Fish Hatchery, being constructed by the Colville Tribe on this site, is part of an attempt to restore not only some threatened species, but also an endangered way of life. For many…
The Fishery at Kettle Falls
Beneath the placid waters of Lake Roosevelt at this location lies what was once one of the most important native sites on the Columbia plateau - Kettle Falls. For thousands of years, Indians from as…
Frontier Violence in Colfax: The Courthouse Lynchings
Nineteenth century Americans loved a good courthouse. Here in 1889, the residents of Whitman County constructed a grand gothic palace of justice that stood prominently until 1957 when it was torn…
The Codger Pole
Old grudges die hard. In 1938, cross-county archrivals the Colfax Bulldogs and the St. John Eagles met in a bitterly contested football matchup. St. John emerged the victors with a score of 14 - 0,…
Prairie View Schoolhouse in Waverly
One-room schoolhouses were a common sight in the 19th century American West. Although most have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, there are still some left that have been restored…
Prehistory in the Palouse: Marmes Rockshelter
In 1952, a Palouse farmer named Roland "Squirt" Marmes discovered a strange rock formation on his property near the town of Hooper, Washington. That same year, another Hooper rancher named John…
The Cheney Northern Pacific Railway Depot
Please be aware that this structure is located on private property and access is prohibited for safety reasons.
From the 1880s to the 1930s, the Northern Pacific Railway Depot in Cheney, WA was…
Spokane Fire Station No. 2: Spokane's First Firefighters
Spokane's Fire Department began with Station No. 1 and Station No. 2. After forming the Spokane Falls Volunteer Fire Department in 1884, Rescue Hose No. 1, made up of "white-collar men," and Spokane…
Spokane Fire Station No. 4: In the Line of Duty
Constructed in 1899, ten years after the Great Fire of 1889, Station No. 4 was originally located at 1304 West First Avenue. No. 4 has been relocated numerous times, due to efforts to expand the…
Spokane Fire Station No. 5: Firefighters Give Status to Schoolchildren
Built in 1893, Station No. 5 was originally located in the City Hall Annex, on the northeast corner of Howard and Front. Sometime between 1911-1912, it was relocated to the new City Hall at the…