The imposing stature of the Review Tower at the corner Riverside and Monroe stands as a reminder of different times. The late 1800's were the time when newspapers were king. Long before radio and television, before major networks came to dominate national news, newspapers in towns like Spokane fought it out over readers, advertisements, and public opinion.

Originally begun in March, 1890, and completed in October of the following year, the Review Building and tower became the home of the Spokane Falls Review, a joint business venture between the Portland Oregonian and A. M. Cannon. Although today it stands in the shadow of the federal building across the street, when it was completed, the six story brick building dominated the skyline in the wake of the fire of 1889, and would remain the tallest building in town for the next ten years. As a Spokane landmark, the Review Tower projected an air of power, respectability, and reliability, all things which the owners of the Spokane Falls Review wanted Spokane's citizens to associate with their paper.

Indeed, the enormous building was intended to intimidate its competition in the newspaper wars, but the Review Building was actually bigger than the newspaper needed. So much bigger, in fact, that the building was home to two newspapers and the Hotel Review at one point, until the Chronicle moved across the street and the hotel was closed. The constant warring left the two big newspapers in Spokane, The Spokesman and the Review, weakened and financially strapped, forcing them to merge together into one paper.

Despite this move to save the papers, when the financial panic of 1893 struck, the newly christened Spokesman-Review was hit hard, dropping from twelve pages down to four. Rather than pull out of the venture, W. H. Cowles, one of the owners of the paper, invested further and acquired the newspaper entirely for himself. In the span of just a few years, the Spokane newspaper wars had whittled the field down from two major newspapers with numerous owners to just one newspaper owned by just one man. Cowles had won, and his Spokesman-Review would remain the city's premier newspaper to the present day.

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In 1889, Frank Rockwood Moore and his wife Sarah Franicis Sherlock Moore began work on their residence in Spokane. Moore had made quite a name for himself in the local community. He was the first president of Washington Water Power, which would later become Avista Utilities, as well as an investor in mining and real estate. The site on Spokane's lower South Hill was one chosen for its commanding view of the young city and its popularity among the wealthy and well-to-do.

Moore commissioned architect Kirtland Cutter to build the mansion. Cutter's designs had gained him notoriety, and he brought his considerable talent to the task of designing the Moores' mansion. In the spirit of European countryside estates, Cutter designed a home that would look as though it had already been on the site for centuries. The result was a unique structure, one that was at once impressive, and yet was also the subject of a number of jokes told by the locals.

After Moore died in 1895, the house was purchased by Senator George Turner. Turner made the house and the gardens which attended it the centerpiece of many Spokane social functions. After Turner died, the house sat empty for a number of years until the bank which owned it had it torn down in 1940.

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Pioneer Park is comprised of the two residences which occupied the premises. One property, which was owned by D. C. Corbin, featured gardens, both for flowers and food, as well as a small play castle for children. One story that visiting children were told was how avid hunter President Theodore Roosevelt had successfully shot a buffalo from a spot on the hill just behind the castle when he visited Spokane.

While this story isn't true, it is true that Teddy Roosevelt did visit Spokane. He was, in fact, a friend of Senator George Turner, who lived next door to Corbin. Turner bought the property after it's original owner, Frank Rockwood Moore, died. Turner expanded the existing hillside garden, and added much to it, making it a popular spot for Spokane's high society social functions.

The Heritage Gardens at Pioneer Park were originally acquired by Spokane Parks and Recreation in 1945. Although the Corbin House and some of the grounds around it were maintained, the majority of the flowers, fruit trees, buildings, and water features which were once found on the grounds were lost to memory and time. The Gardens were rediscovered in the mid 1990's, and public interest led to them being restored and opened to the public.

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The Davenport Hotel was the brainchild of restauranteur/entrepreneur Louis Davenport. Davenport was not a Spokane native, but he found himself in Spokane shortly after the great fire of 1889. Davenport lent his hand to the cleanup and reconstruction efforts, and was able to set aside some money in the process. Soon Davenport opened a small restaurant in a tent, which he would later replace with a more permanent waffle factory at the eastern end of the block where the Davenport Hotel stands today.

Davenport wasn't satisfied to stop with the restaurant, and began to make plans for the hotel. Along with architect Kirtland Cutter and Gustav Albin Pehrson, Davenport set about designing a hotel for the Inland Northwest that would impress travelers from all over the world. When completed in 1914, the Davenport Hotel was truly impressive with its opulent Spanish, Italian, French, and Elizabethan interiors. It featured many modern touches, such as air conditioning, a central vacuum, and an electric sign which shone down brightly upon passers by.

Time took its toll, and after the death of Louis Davenport in 1945, the condition of the hotel continued to decline until it closed in 1985. The hotel was finally restored in 2000 after being purchased by the Worthy family. It now stands open for business, with much of its original architecture still intact.

MAC 100 Stories: A Centennial Exhibition is told on the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture campus in Spokane's Browne's Addition, with additional highlights at 15 sites in Spokane and eastern Washington. The exhibit experience (February 22, 2014 - January 2016) weaves stories and programs about Inland Northwest people, places and events by capitalizing on the MAC's extraordinary collection. www.northwestmuseum.org

Spokane Historical presents 15 regional and city tours in partnership with the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and its 100 Stories exhibition.

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The Spokane Steam Plant began as simple cost saving measure. In the early 1900's the Trustee Company owned five buildings in Spokane's downtown, and hit upon the idea of producing their steam heat from a central location to save on costs. Although even this was no small idea, it paled in comparison to what the Steam Plant would become. Thanks to Henry Flood, the Chief of Staff for the Trustee Company, the Steam Plant grew from a centralized location intended to produce steam for a few buildings, into a commercial enterprise which be contracted to provide heat for thirty eight buildings shortly after it's completion in 1916. Eventually the Steam Plant would serve most of the business district, and would end up providing heat for over three hundred buildings.

Over the years the Steam Plant underwent a numerous of upgrades and passed through the hands of a number of different owners. It finally came to rest under the ownership of Avista Utilities, which was forced to shut the Steam Plant down in the 1980's, when the cost of maintaining the steam lines that piped the steam throughout the city became too much. A decade later the Steam Plant was reopened as a commercial space and is home to businesses such as an architectural firm, and even a restaurant.

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