All Stories: 709
Stories
Sort by:
A jackass, a big hill, and the community that loves them: This is the story of the lucrative jackass that started it all (up on a hill), the memory and embodiment of that jackass (and that hill), and the story of survival of a beloved ski area that was far from lucrative.
All ski areas have many ups and downs in their history, not just in relation to lift operations up and down the mountain. But the Jackass Ski Resort has had more downs than ups in its lifetime. It is…
Tubbs Hill
Tubbs Hill overlooks the City of Coeur d'Alene. It is situated between the lake, the resort and the rest of downtown Coeur d'Alene. It is purely a lucky mistake that the hill became a public park…
Nine Mile Falls
In Spokane as elsewhere, waterpower was the driving force behind industrial development. The dam and powerhouse at Nine Mile Falls are key pieces of Spokane history. This dam and its builder, Jay P.…
The Spokane Coliseum
"Like the pyramids of Egypt and Grand Coulee dam, Spokane's mammoth concrete and steel structure, the municipal Coliseum, has been built to last," pronounced the Spokane Daily Chronicle on December 3,…
Silverwood - From Airport to Theme Park
Regionally known as the largest amusement park in the Inland Northwest, Silverwood has a long and varied history as an airport, an air museum, and finally a place of roller coasters and waterslides.…
From Faculty to Frat Boys: Philena Apartments
Apartment building originally built to house female faculty is now inhabited by frat boys.
Bennett Block
A prominent downtown building's namesake once threatened a Spokane newspaper editor at gunpoint.
Hendrick Hall: Once a Home for Students, Now a Home for the International Programs: International House of Travel and Intercultural Center
Hendrick Hall, once a student dormitory, is now the Intercultural Student Center. What is now known as Hendrick Hall, in honor of Eileen “Mom” Hendrick, has experienced several changes throughout its…
My Name is Jim Wardner
My name is James Fredrick Wardner but my friends call me Jim. Despite the lack of notoriety for my accomplishments, I contributed a great deal to the mining success in the Silver Valley. Because of my…
The Alternate Uses of Fairmount Cemetery
On any given day, you will find that Fairmount Memorial Park is used for much more than the interment of the dead. Located at the end of a neighborhood drive, the Park is used for ... well, a park. …
Father Velis and the Holy Trinity Lawn, Riverside Cemetery
Greek Orthodox heritage in Spokane: Father Nicholas J. Velis was instrumental in fostering its growth and longevity. He was also the one who pushed for an eternal resting ground for the community of…
Spanish Influenza Victims, Riverside Cemetery
Spokane: Another statistic of the 1918 influenza pandemic. In fact, Spokane's mortality rate was nearly three times the national average, 6%. The Spanish flu, as it was commonly called, first…
Sisters of St. Francis, Fairmount Cemetery
Clustered together in the Catholic section of Fairmount Memorial Park are 8 graves from the early 1900s that belong to the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Each grave was once marked with a…
Spokane's Deadliest Disaster, Greenwood Cemetery
There are 15 unmarked graves at Greenwood Memorial Terrace that belong to railroad workers who were blown to smithereens on 06 September 1890.
A crew, of at least 24 men, was working that day to…
Spokane's First Legal Hanging, Greenwood Cemetery: Spokane's First Legal Hanging, Greenwood Cemetery
Where lays Charles Brooks? Who was he? Why is he in an unmarked grave? Mr. Brooks has the unfortunate fame of being the first legally hanged man in Spokane.
The 1891 Brooks case was quite the…
John G. Lake, Riverside Cemetery
Faith healer, John Graham Lake, was a prominent evangelical preacher and contributor to the founding of the American Pentecostal movement in the early 1900s. He began the first healing rooms in…
Riverside Cemetery
The land where Riverside Memorial Park lies was originally a recreational municipal park, which opened in 1907 when John Aylard Finch spearheaded the organization of the Riverside Park Company. It…
Hidden Tunnel at Greenwood Cemetery
Would you believe there's a tunnel that runs through the cemetery grounds at Greenwood Memorial Terrace? It's true. The 1889 plat for the cemetery indicates a proposed railroad terminal in the…
Dr. Mary Latham, Greenwood Cemetery
Dr. Mary Archard Latham, Spokane's pioneer female physician, is one of early Spokane's most colorful and controversial characters.
Latham graduated from medical school in 1886, at the age of 42,…
A History of Greenwood Cemetery
As Spokane outgrew its frontier beginnings, its old church graveyards were at risk of overflowing, and the small pioneer cemeteries got in the way of land development. In order to solve both issues,…
Scattering Garden, Fairmount Cemetery
The most recent change in burial practices is the increasing use of cremation. According to the Cremation Association of North America, nearly 26% of U. S. deaths in the year 2000 resulted in…
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…
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…
Fraternal Influence at Greenwood Cemetery
At the end of the 19th Century, membership in fraternal organizations and social clubs was at a peak - when it was common for ladies and gentlemen to be enrolled in several groups at a time. Women's…
Haunted Staircase, Greenwood Cemetery
Here at the haunted stairs, also known at the thousand steps, lies a great mystery full of tales of yester-years, tunnels, and ghosts.
One such fable presumes the stairs were the original entrance…
A Short History of Cemeteries, Greenwood Cemetery
As you tour Greenwood Memorial Terrace, starting from the main entrance on the first level and working your way through the second terrace, and up to the third, here's a bit of history to help you…
“Will Be Run Out of the City”: Racial profiling in Spokane at the Turn of the 20th Century
Sometimes the law comes swift and unfairly as with the African American sex workers of downtown Spokane in the early 1900s.