What is now Fairchild Airforce Base originated as an Army Air Supply and Repair Depot to service the other airfields around Spokane and in the Pacific Northwest.

The United States military acquisition of McChord Field near Tacoma in 1937 created an additional need for military supply depots in the pacific northwest, and as the likelihood of US participation in the second world war increased it became a more pressing matter to ensure that the bases along the pacific were well supplied. Spokane was chosen over other cities competing for the new supply depot like Everett, Washington and Salt Lake City, Utah due to having the most strategically sound location, being far enough inland to protect against potential Japanese attacks, yet close enough to McChord and other Pacific coast bases to quickly and efficiently deliver supplies.

In September of 1941 when the Army announced that it had hoped to build in Spokane the residents of the city were eager to support the military and donated over $120,000 in less than one week to help the city purchase the land needed to build the new base to donate to the US Government. In November the military was presented the deed for 2400 acres of land twelve miles west of the city, and construction began at the site on January 19, 1942. By March the first large building was complete and the Spokane Army Air Depot was activated. Construction lasted another year costing $25 million and employing 2500 construction workers to lay over 8 miles of railroad track and build 262 buildings including a 12-acre repair hanger, and 12 city block-sized warehouses.

The primary purpose of the base once operational was to repair aircraft and aircraft parts, in particular, the site focused on the repair and maintenance of B-17 engines. Over 5000 mechanics, 25 percent of which were women, worked 24 hours a day on aircraft repair. In the first month of operation, the depot repaired 50 engines but by July 1944 between the B-17s, B-24s, B-25s, P-38s, and P-51 over 1250 airplanes had been repaired at the depot and the average engine repair rate was at 500 per month. With three women repairing the 10,000th engine at the depot in June 1945 by the end of the war the Spokane Army Air Depot had set a new record for aircraft engine repairs.

Following the end of World War II, the Spokane Army Air Depot was transferred to Strategic Air Command assigned to the 15th Air Force, and maintenance functions ceased. In 1948 The Spokane Army Air Depot was renamed the Spokane Airforce Base after the 92nd and 98th Bombardment wings were assigned to the base the previous year, bringing 60 Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bombers with them making it the largest B-29 base in Strategic Air Command. The new name wasn’t in place long as in 1950 the base was renamed again to Fairchild Airforce Base which it remains to this day.

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Called the City of Mercy and containing more than 2000 beds this hospital was its own self-contained community.

When the United States first entered World War 2 there was a rush to create new military facilities across the country, including an urgent need for new hospitals. The army declared that the existing military hospitals were ill-equipped and understaffed, and a plan was formed by Army Surgeon General James Carre Magee to construct new hospitals throughout the nation while simultaneously recruiting and training doctors. Due to its strategically viable inland location Spokane housed facilities for every branch of the United States military during the war, this also made it an ideal site for one of the new military hospitals.

It was announced in April of 1942 that the city had been awarded a contract to build a new military hospital designed to accommodate 1,000 beds and with an estimated cost of $3,500,000. Construction began in July and on August 21, 1942, the Baxter General Hospital was officially activated and 41 staff members had arrived to operate what facilities had been completed. The hospital was considered operational the following March with a total of sixty wards finished containing 2001 beds. With sixty wards and 200 completed buildings, the hospital operated like a miniature city within Spokane with its own restaurants, post office, movie theater, church, and library to ensure that the staff and patients lived comfortably during their stays.

On June 24, 1943, the hospital’s first 187 patients arrived. These men brought from the Pacific Front were the first real glimpse of the war for Spokane, and the local newspapers reported their injuries and stories during the following days. While these men were the first patients they were far from the last as during the first year of operation over 3000 wounded or sick soldiers were sent to Baxter General for treatment.

In August of 1944, the Hospital was changed from a general health treatment hospital to one that specialized in thoracic injuries and surgery. This change increased the number of patients admitted to over 200 per month and the hospital was often full. Partially due to these changes, Baxter Hospital began to focus on efficiently rehabilitating soldiers and returning them to service in ways that other hospitals had failed to do in the past. The number of patients continued to increase in the Hospital’s final year of operation with over 5000 sick or wounded soldiers admitted in 1945.

In October 1945 it was announced that the hospital was closing, and on November 6 Baxter was deactivated. The hospital officially closed on December 31st after all the remaining patients had been released or transferred to other facilities. After the hospital closed the city of Spokane struggled to find a use for the buildings and equipment left at the site and by 1949 every building had been auctioned or sold to outside interest and removed. In October 1949 a section of the hospital grounds was used to construct what is now Joe Albi Stadium. In 1950 another section of the property became a new Veterans Affairs Hospital.

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Brown Metal Works started as a sheet metal production business but during World War 2 the Brown Brothers' passion for aviation led to shifting the companies focus.

During the Second World War businesses across the nation began to shift their production to help focus on supporting the war effort. One such business located in Spokane was Brown Metal Works, later called Brown Industries.

Located on the corner at East Sprague Ave and North Grant St., Brown Metal Works was founded in 1889 by six brothers who moved to Spokane after the Great Fire and began manufacturing sheet metal products. The company moved away from producing roof shingles and other sheet metal construction materials and began producing buses, dump trucks, trailers, and other metal automobile parts.

In 1929, brothers Thoburn and William Brown took over the family business. Thoburn was interested in aviation and in 1930 the two brothers unveiled their first all-metal airplane design. They produced two more planes, but ultimately the economic downturn forced them to focus on the more profitable automobile.

When the United States entered World War II Brown Metal Works, now Brown Industries, moved production to Felts Field and gained contracts to produce parts for military aircraft under Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas. Using aluminum from the nearby Kaiser Aluminum plant Brown produced parts for B-17 bombers and A-26 attack-bomber planes.

After the war, Brown Industries returned to producing automobiles. Brown was contracted to outfit a local bookmobile and in the end, produced one of the first aluminum-bodied cargo vans in the country. Brown was able to expand to a nationwide market with this new line of vehicles. In 1959 Brown Industries was bought by Clark Equipment Company a business out of Michigan. Today after changing owners and parent companies several times Brown Cargo Van Inc based in Kansas still produces trucks and moving equipment.

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As the Second World War raged on soldiers returning home on leave or based in the states needed recreational centers to destress. Black soldiers did not always feel welcome in USO clubs so separate USO facilities like the George Washington Carver Club were founded.

When the United States entered the Second World War President Roosevelt felt a need to create a home-based organization to provide recreational activities for soldiers. The United Service Organization or USO was then founded and USO clubs began operating to be a “home away from home” for soldiers. Due to the city’s proximity to a major airfield and a Naval Training Center, Spokane needed such centers for the tens of thousands of soldiers coming into the region every year.

While the city had civilian founded centers that offered similar services since 1941, the first official USO Club in Spokane opened on 3rd and Monroe in 1942. It was the 1200th USO club to open in the United States. During its first year of operation, thousands of soldiers would go there to dance, drink, play games, read, write letters, or make phone calls.

There were three USO clubs in Spokane, two for white soldiers and one for African American servicemen. The USO’s official policy was to not operate segregated facilities; however, in segregated communities, the clubs would reflect their surroundings. In the nonsegregated clubs, many black soldiers still found notable tension when they participated in club activities. This led some cities to open separate clubs for the black soldiers, such as Spokane’s George Washington Carver Club. By 1943, there were nearly 200 USO clubs designated specifically for black soldiers.

The George Washington Carver Club officially opened on August 9th, 1943 on the corner of first and division and offered the same sort of recreation as the other USO clubs in town. Rose Malone the club director recruited over 100 local women to work as hostesses to dance and play games with the black soldiers in Spokane. Between the many dances and playing cards, the George Washington Carver Club offered an important respite for the black servicemen in the Inland Northwest.

With the inland northwest having facilities for every branch of the military, including a navy training center, two major airfields, and one of the busiest military hospitals in the country between the three clubs, there were nearly 2 million visitors throughout the war. After the end of the war, the USO clubs continued to operate for a short time but in December 1947 the three Spokane clubs closed along with the other clubs across the country.

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Born and raised in Spokane, Jack D. Holsclaw spent World War II flying as a Tuskegee airman.

Though the US military was still racially segregated during the Second World War The 332nd Fighter Group of the Army Air Corps gained fame as an all-Black unit of pilots. Known as the Tuskegee Airmen due to training in the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama the group held one of the highest success rates defending American bombers throughout the war.

Jack D. Holsclaw was born in Spokane in 1918. Holsclaw graduated from North Central Highschool in 1935 and attended Whitworth College before transferring to Washington State College. In his senior year, he transferred again, this time to Western States College in Portland. Holsclaw graduated from college in 1942 with a degree to practice chiropractic.

Rather than go on to be a chiropractor in October 1942 Holsclaw enlisted in the U.S. Army. As he had received a civilian pilot license while studying in Oregon, Holclaw applied for the pilot’s program and went to the Tuskegee Institute where he was trained to fly combat aircraft. Holsclaw completed his training in July 1943 and in December was sent to Italy as part of the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group.

In Europe Holsclaw flew 68 missions protecting bombers from German fighter planes. On July 18, 1944, the 100th Fighter Squadron with Holsclaw as its flight leader engaged 300 German fighters to protect a group of B-17 bombers. While leading the 16 man squadron during the battle, he shot down two enemy aircraft. For his actions that day Holsclaw was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war, Holsclaw continued to serve in the military having a long career training new pilots before retiring in 1965 with the final rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Today his childhood home in Spokane honors his service with a historic marker placed by the Jonas Babcock Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution reminding pedestrians passing by of Black pilot from Inland Northwest.

The House is a private residence, please respect the residents’ privacy by remaining on the sidewalk as you examine this historic home and marker.

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For a crowd of 100,000 in the Inland Northwest a war show became a little too real when two airplanes crashed and exploded.

During World War Two war shows, like airshows today, were a popular way the military drummed up a patriotic spirit in local communities. The shows demonstrated military equipment to awe viewers and show just what all of the homefront efforts had produced.

Spokanintes were looking forward to attending the “Stay On The Job” war show on the afternoon of July 23, 1944. The show was conceived by Spokane air service command deputy commander Colonel Paul Schidecker to encourage the workers of the Inland Northwest to keep working to produce military equipment and vehicles. By having mock firefights and air battles to show how effective the equipment was in use along with how much wear and tear they underwent, the SPASC hoped to curve the high turnover rate the defense industry was seeing.

With the show beginning at 3 P.M., a crowd of over 100,000 viewers gathered in a natural amphitheater north of Spokane to watch the parades, weapons demonstrations, aerial maneuvers, and bomb droppings. About half an hour after the show began, during the parade of military aircraft the crowd’s attention was called to three A-25 dive-bombers flying into sight. Moments later tragedy struck as two of the planes collided and fell to the ground, bursting into flames. The crowd initially believed the explosions to be a part of the show, which promised realism, but soon they began to realize just what they had witnessed. Crews rushed to control the fires, and after a 45-minute interruption, the show continued. The next day it was announced that four men died in the crash, two pilots and two engineers.

The deaths of these young men lived on, in a sense, in the 1956 science fiction film Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Film crews recording the event caught the accident on camera and the footage of the two planes crashing and exploding became stock footage for Hollywood movies.

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During construction of the North Coast Railroad, Robert E Strahorn adopted a persona of mystery in order to keep competitors from learning the secret of his funding.

In the house that once sat on this corner of 1st and Hemlock lived Robert E Strahorn. Few men can be said to have as much influence developing the west as Strahorn. Throughout the 1870s and 80s, he traveled across the Pacific Northwest as the publicist for Union Pacific Railroads, writing books and articles to entice potential settlers to the opportunities available in the territories. He became known as a town builder when he used his familiarity with the future railroad routes to fund the development of towns along those routes, a prominent example being Caldwell Idaho. These endeavors weren't always successful, and after financial strains in 1890 Strahorn left the west to work as an investment banker in Boston.

Strahorn wasn't gone long however as he returned to the Northwest in 1898 settling in Spokane. In 1900 he purchased a home from JJ Browne at 2216 w 1st Avenue, and soon after began the most ambitious undertaking of his career. Strahorn decided to construct a railroad to connect Spokane and Walla Walla to Seattle and Tacoma.

Known as the North Coast Railroad the project was incredibly audacious, as while Strahorn was wealthy he didn't have the type of money necessary to build such a long set of rail lines. Despite this, Strahorn was paying for the multi-million dollar project using personal checks. Competitors knew that Strahorn must have received funding from an external source, but Strahorn never revealed who the source was throughout the construction.

Due to the mystery wrapped around Strahorn, his competitors began to refer to him as The Sphinx and The Man of Mystery, yet investigations into the source turned up nothing. It wasn't until after completion of the railroad that it was revealed that Strahorn had received his funding directly from Edward Harriman, the President of Union Pacific. Union Pacific then assumed control of the North Coast Railroad, this had been Strahorn's plan all along to bring Spokane into the Union Pacific Railroads expansion system.

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Unlike the Great Northern Station which has left its mark on downtown Spokane, nothing remains of the elegant Union Station instead the Red Rider Wagon play area occupies its former location.

Walking in Riverfront Park today, it might be hard to imagine it any other way. However, what once occupied that space was one of the grandest, most elegant rail depots in Spokane, the Union Pacific Depot or Union Station. When former Union Pacific publicist and builder of the North Coast Railroad, Robert E. Strahorn, drove the golden spike into the ground in 1914 signifying the grand opening of Union Station, he completed a decade long plan to incorporate Spokane into the Union Pacific Railroads system. The creation of Union Station had been part of an agreement made by Strahorn, and Edward H. Harriman, the president of Union Pacific Railroads. Harriman secretly funded Strahorn's North Coast Railroad in order to boost his influence over the Washington railroads system and to keep others from beating him to it.

Union Station was constructed on the north side of Trent, now Spokane Falls Boulevard, and directly faced its rival the Great Northern Station, across the river. In fact, the location for the station was chosen because of the fact that it blocked the view of the Great Northern Station from downtown Spokane, preventing pedestrians in the area from even seeing its competitor. Union Station serviced the Milwaukee Road and subsidiaries of Union Pacific such as the Oregon and Washington Railroad Navigation Company (O.W.R. & N) and Strahorn's North Coast Railroad. A series of elevated tracks were utilized to allow the trains to come into the downtown station over the Spokane River and city streets.

While Union Pacific saw success with moving industrial materials in the area it never gained a stronghold in the Inland Empire for passenger routes. However, crowds did gather outside Union station when President Harding visited Spokane in 1923. Even with the occasional boost in passenger traffic, only eleven passenger trains came into the station daily in the 1920s. By 1953 business had slowed down with just five passenger trains stopping at the station in a day, this was further reduced to just one train arriving and departing a day by 1973.

In the 1970s the effort to recreate the city’s downtown image saw the elevated railroad tracks that once ran through the heart of the city rerouted elsewhere and in preparation for Expo ‘74, Union Station was to be demolished. The last-minute Save Our Station campaign made an effort to save both the Union and Great Northern stations. A citywide vote was held to attempt to save the stations, however, the lack of support caused the vote to fail. In 1973 Union Station was torn down. While the clock tower of the rival Great Northern Station still stands visible to the north, nothing remains of Union Station and where it once stood is now the Childhood Express Red Wagon.

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