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Julian Edward Itter: "Father of North Cascades National Park"
The natural beauty of Washington State is an artist's paradise.
Francis H. Cook
A forgotten founder of Spokane, Francis H. Cook was one of the most influential people in Spokane’s History.
Little is known about Cook’s childhood other than in 1851 he was born a twin to Silas…
Mount Saint Michael
The cornerstone for the current Mount St. Michael was laid in 1914, but the history of this Catholic church is much older.
Father Joseph Cataldo arrived in the Inland Northwest in 1865 as a…
Doomsday Hill: Bloomsday's Toughest Climb
If you’ve never seen a city taken over by almost sixty thousand runners, visit downtown Spokane on the first Sunday in May. Since 1977, the Lilac Bloomsday Run has been a major event for the city.…
The John A. Currie House
Built during Spokane's "Age of Elegance", the Currie house is a fine example of the Queen Anne style of architecture.
Dutch Jake's Park: West Central's Most Famous Resident Memorialized
Goetz's "capacity for friendship and his charity" had made him "known from one end of this country to the other"
Horse Rings
For the first decades of Spokane’s history, its citizens got around on foot or on horse. In a very few places downtown, horse rings can still be found in the granite curbs. Here, on the corner of Main…
Falls City Opera House: Spokane's First Live Theater
The rude frontier hamlet of Spokane experienced its first taste of the nightlife in 1887 when the Falls City Opera house opened at 706 West Main Street. Spokane's "first and only theater" was open to…
Hillyard Library
A library is a necessity for any civilized neighborhood. After Spokane annexed Hillyard in 1924 the area qualified for more city services. One of the major services provided by the city, and a staple…
John R. Monaghan Statue: Martyr to An Obscure War: Killed by Alfred Thayer Mahan
This dashing young man who perches in front of the Spokane Club, leaning on his sword and staring down the traffic on Monroe with steely-eyed determination is John R. Monaghan, who died because of a…
Alexander F. MacLeod House
"Remembering advice: 'Go West , young man, and grow up with the country'. I packed my trunk, my sheepskin included, crossed the great divide and landed in Spangle in 1880." Dr. Alex MacLeod
St. Ignatius Hospital: A Haunted Hospital in the Palouse?
Religious orders were vital in establishing hospitals in the West. St. Ignatius Hospital is one the first hospitals built in the Inland Northwest by the Sisters of Charity.
Punk Rock Comes to Spokane: Spokane's musical heritage is more than Bing
A three-ring circus?
Nat Reiss and the Spokane Carnival
Carnivals and Circuses were big business in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Barnum and Bailey’s ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ and the popular Ringling Brothers Circus were two of the biggest…
The Florence Crittenton House: A Home for Wayward Women
One hundred years ago, women had little access to birth control or legal ways of ending pregnancies. For unwed women, an unplanned pregnancy could lead to expulsion from the home and social disgrace.…
The Sperry Mill Company
Spokane stands on the edge of a sea of wheat, and grain and milling was a growth industry in the city in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. There are several mills still standing to…
The McKinley School
Education is a cornerstone of great cities, and Spokane is no different. The elegance of buildings like the McKinley School testify to the value that early Spokanites attributed to public…
The Spirit of Sandpoint High School: The Old Sandpoint High School
The old Sandpoint High School has been a part of the community for 93 years. It is filled with memories of 31 years of graduations and the beginning of the famous Sandpoint Bulldogs.
Float Homes of Bayview: Floating homes, Lake Pend Oreille
The "Floating Village" near Bayview, Idaho has been part of the community's history since 1910. These homes are fully equipped for full time residents or vacationing families.
Idaho's Submarine Fleet: Acoustic Development Research Center
When Farragut Naval Training Station was built near Bayview, Idaho in the 1940's, the soldiers were not the only new arrival. Idaho gained it's first submarine fleet that is still active today.
Fire Lookouts – From Hermit's Castles to Weekend Get-A-Ways: Fire Lookouts
The fire lookout started as a means of early detection of forest fires. Today its new role is as a week-end get-a-way.
The River Pigs of Logging: Logging on the River
Logging Companies used rivers and lakes to move logs from the logging camps to the mills. The brave men that guided the logs on the journey were called the River Pigs.
Flumes, Chutes and Splash Dams: Logging in the early years
Logging for white pine in north Idaho required a new transportation method to get the logs from the mountain to the mill. Flumes, chutes and splash dams were the solution.
Cooking Lime in Bayview, Idaho: The limestone business of North Idaho
Limestone is one of the popular mining products of the Lakeview and Bayview area. The limestone was cooked in kilns in Bayview to start the process of turning it into concrete.
The Long Bridge: The Bridge to Sandpoint
The two mile long bridge spanning the mouth of the Pend Oreille River leads to Sandpoint on the north end. Today's bridge, as the 3 previous ones, offers panoramic views of the river, lake and…
Sandpoint’s Qapquape: Sandpoint City Beach
The Sandpoint City Beach was originally the meeting place for the Kalispel Indian Tribe. The residents of the newly developed city of Sandpoint improved the area that became the city beach.
Lakeview: Mining Camp to Vacation Paradise
Lakeview, Idaho was once a thriving mining town with a population of over 1,000 in 1890. Within 40 years the town became an isolated community of about 20 people.
The Valley Vista Barn: The Valley Vista Ranch Barn
On the side of the hill along US95 at Cocolalla Flats sits the iconic Valley Vista Ranch's big red barn. This barn has watched over the valley since 1949.
Ice Harvest on Cocolalla Lake: Cocolalla Lake Blue Ice
Cocolalla Lake was once an ice farm producing 200 pound blocks of ice that were in high demand by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The Northern Steamer of Lake Pend Oreille: The Northern Steamer
The Northern Steamboat was a 102 foot propeller driven double decker steamer that plied the waters of Lake Pend Oreille from 1908 until 1930 when it was destroyed by fire.