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Spokane Fire Station No. 6: A Burning Issue: Diversifying the Spokane Fire Department
Black Spokanites served as firefighters from the frontier periods. However, integrating women into the force would take much longer.
Spokane Fire Station No. 7: Unsung Equine Heroes
Erected in 1904 and opened in January 1905, the first Station No. 7 was located at the northeast corner of First and Magnolia. In efforts to purchase a flag and landscaping trees, a benefit dance was…
Spokane Fire Station No. 8: Firemen Tournaments
Built almost identical to Station No. 7 around 1911, Station No. 8 was located on the northeast corner of Sinto and Cochran. It closed in September of 1933, and was razed by 1936, not to be rebuilt…
Spokane Fire Station No. 10: Lives of Early Spokane Firefighters
Replaced after 48 years of service, No. 10 was a stick cottage-style building constructed in 1904 and located at the northeast corner of Gordon and Division. In widespread attempts to modernize the…
Spokane Fire Station No. 11: Unionizing for the Community
Station No. 11 was another stick cottage-style station for the fire department. It was built in 1910 and located at 2711 S. Grand Avenue. The original station was razed in 1936, with the new station…
Spokane Fire Station No. 12: Blazes of Finger Pointing
Slated to last 100 years, Station No. 12 was erected of brick and mortar in 1912, located at 2307 E. Glass Avenue. No. 12 was the last station built to house horses, and every station since has been…
Spokane Fire Station No. 13: Emergence into 20th Century Firefighting
Station No. 13 was the first station in Spokane to be built specifically for fire trucks, and not horse-drawn equipment. The single-story brick bungalow opened on June 22, 1913 at Wabash and Jefferson…
Spokane Fire Station No. 14: Location Disputes
The location of fire stations always involves political struggle and compromise. As Spokane grew so did the need for expanded fire protection, and neighborhoods competed for new stations in a…
Spokane Fire Station No. 15: Fire, Steel, and Coal
Station No. 15 was originally located at 3009 E. Olympic, serving the small railroad community of Hillyard. The modest structure first served as Hillyard City Hall and the city jail. In 1924, Hillyard…
Spokane Fire Station No. 16: Department Extracurricular Activities
Opening its doors in 1926, No. 16 was one of the two stations to open that year. It was a single story, brick bungalow located at Milton and Northwest Boulevard. An open house was arranged welcoming…
Spokane Fire Station No. 17: Time of War
Though the United States was not yet officially involved in the Second World War until December of 1941, the Spokane Fire Department established Station No. 17, located at Felts Field, for military…
Spokane Fire Station No. 18: Property Wars
Station No. 18 is the newest member to the Spokane Fire Department stations. It was opened in 1970 and located at 37 E. Cozza Drive. Unfortunately, in 1977, the property lines for the station were…
The Death of "Irish Kate"
Among the many famous and infamous residents of this section of the cemetery is Kate Barrett, better known to history as "Irish Kate."
Soon after August 4, 1889, countless sensationalized stories…
Ranger Pulaski and the 1910 Tale of Survival
Though not the only heroic ranger to lead their crews through imminent danger, perhaps no other story captures the bravery of the 1910 firefighters than that of forty year old Ranger Edward C. Pulaski…
"The Big Blowup:" The 1910 Fires and their Aftermath
The summer of 1910 was hot and dry in the northwestern United States. And on August 20-21 the nation would feel the fury and reach of nature's wrath.
Fires on the scale of 1910's were not unheard of…
Spokane's Public Market Place
After the Panic of 1893, Americans sought new ways to save on unnecessary spending. As families continued to grow, so did grocery bills. Spokane realized the success of Seattle's public marketplace…
The Sunshine Mine Disaster: Idaho's Worst Mining Disaster
Mining has always been hard, dirty, and above all dangerous work. This monument memorializes one of the worst tragedies ever to strike the Silver Valley, the Sunshine Mine Disaster of 1972.
Of…
The Yellowstone Trail
"Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound" was the motto of the Yellowstone Trail, America's first transcontinental highway, established in 1912.
Interstate 90 was not the first road in the United States to…
Taft: The Wickedest City in America
By the early 1900s, the rough and tumble frontier towns of America were dying off, slowly becoming gentrified and developed into respectable settlements. Taft, Montana was one town that wasn't going…
Neighborhoods Matter: The Impact of the I-90 Freeway on the East Central Neighborhood, an Oral History - Introduction
Spokane's East Central neighborhood is located just east of Division street and north of Sprague avenue, a stretch of mostly flat land that tapers into the Spokane valley as one moves east and winds…
Ivan Bush, Resident Since 1978
"At one time the East Central neighborhood was the most diverse neighborhood in the city."
In this interview Ivan Bush, who has lived in the East Central neighborhood for over 35 years, identifies…
Debbie Takami, Resident Since the 1960s
"The area where we grew up was a real neighborhood. Now it's just fast food restaurants and the freeway."
Debbie Takami is a life-long resident of Spokane. She grew up in the East Central…
Theo Adams, Resident Since 1949
"When we moved here, to this house, people put up a petition because they didn't want us here. That's been years ago, but they couldn't stop us from moving in."
Theo Adams, who has lived in East…
Tommy Fletcher, Resident Since 1950
"It was quite difficult, I have to tell you like it is . . . . We couldn't buy a house in South Hill because of color."
Like Theo Adams, Tommy Fletcher moved to East Central in 1950 and experienced…
Violet Noble, Resident Since the 1940s
"We didn't like the things they did and they didn't like the things we did."
Born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1927, Violet Noble came to the East Central neighborhood during the growth period of…
Jim Hanley, Resident Since 1942
"It was just a nice little community, and then the freeway came through and bisected the thing so we ended up with two East Central neighborhoods."
Jim Hanley has lived in the East Central…
Jerome Green, Resident Since the early 1960s
"The freeway truly impacted the community. It dispersed families. It was a total division between the north part of Spokane and the south part of Spokane."
Jerome Green has lived in the East…
Bill and Doug Trudeau, Business Owners Since 1948
"Some of the residential that was left wasn't worth saving. Probably the best homes are still left here."
The lasting effects of the construction of the I-90 freeway were not all bad, according to…
Devin Samuelson, Business Owner Since 2013
"Traffic being diverted to the freeway left the businesses here in more of a state of need than I think people were hoping."
Because Devin Samuelson's experience with the East Central neighborhood…
Jack-Daniyel Strong, Business Owner Since 2012
"We're divided. We're completely separate, and you have to make a concerted effort to get to one side or the other."
Jack-Daniyel Strong's experience with the East Central community began in 1995,…