Palouse village, known to the local tribes as Naha’u’umpu’u, or “People of the River,” was one of the oldest sites of the Palus (or Palouse) Indians of the Pacific Northwest. It is located at the confluence of the Snake River and Palouse Falls and held great spiritual importance. One of the most famous legends describes the formation of the big round rock on the west side of the Palouse River. According to the Palus, this rock is Beaver’s heart who was chased by five giants for his oil. After several attempts to spear him, Beaver raced down the river but was forced to return to the mouth of the river by Coyote where the giants killed him and left his heart at the river’s mouth.

The Palus Indians were caught up in the Indian wars in the late nineteenth century and mistaken for another tribe, both the Palus and the Nez Perce Indians were removed from Washington and Idaho and sent to Oklahoma to the Indian Territory. They were unable to return to their home and their ancestors until 1885. The return to their ancestral homes in Idaho and along the Palouse was in great part due to the continuous efforts of Chief Joseph, Yellow Bull, Yellow Bear, and Husishusis Kate (a spiritual leader). Today the village is gone, but the site is still a site of spiritual worship and salmon for tribes in the area.

The Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery was built in 1982 by the Army Corps of Engineers at the confluence of the Tucannon River and Snake River. Its goal was to mitigate dam-related losses of steelhead and Chinook salmon.

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Is the creek in front of you called Hangman or Latah Creek? It depends on who you ask.

Spokane is steeped in Native American history, the name itself derived from the Spokan tribe, and many roads, creeks, and wildlife names also provide evidence of this native history.

The creek appears on the The area officially listed as Latah Creek with Spokane’s county commissioners and the Federal government is known locally by a name that bears witness to a particularly brutal time in Washington’s past.

Lewis and Clark learned about the creek from native informants and placed it on their map as the "Lau-taw River." The name derives from a Nez Perce word meaning roughly "place to fish," a tribute to the salmon that once swam up its reached. In 1858 Colonel George Wright recorded the creek name as Ned-Whauld or Lahtoo--though the actions he took on its banks would change the name for many.

In 1858 Wright hanged, without trial, the Yakima Chief Qualchan and several other Indians at a spot a few miles south of here. Locals began to call the creek Hangman Creek soon thereafter.

In 1899 the name was changed back to Latah Creek by a Federal Act but local people and mapmakers continued to list the area as both Latah and Hangman. Even when the Spokane county commissioners in 1997 declared all maps to now list the area as Latah, Federal USGS maps continued to show both names. This historic dual place name continues to elicit various opinions – while some people believe Latah should be used to honor the original name, some others, including many tribal members, believe that ‘Hangman’ should stay to remind people of the 1858 atrocities.

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Hangman Creek is one of the Spokane River’s largest tributaries and is surrounded by lush meadows and farmland. It once provided local tribes with food sources such as trout, salmon and freshwater mussels, as well as reeds used to make sleeping mats and lodges.

In April 1924, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported finding a bathing pool used previously by local tribes by the creek between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues. These pools were dug just to the side of the streams and creeks, allowed to fill with water and shored up with stones. They were then covered with hides and hot stones were added to the makeshift baths. Once inside the bath, you’d be completely hidden to enjoy the warm water. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find any evidence of these natural spas - the creek itself has changed and eroded over time with both natural and man-made intervention.

In the 1930’s, as part of the Civilian Conservation Corp, (or CCC,) crews of workers including several Coeur D’Alene tribal members dug drainage ditches and straightened parts of the creek in an effort to improve agriculture. Today, those improvements have made parts of the creek so muddy that fish, including the native Redband Trout, cannot survive. The straightened streams also prevent the water from draining back as they should and instead the water rushes on eroding the banks and dislodging more mud downstream.

But all is not lost - with careful cultivation of vegetation along the banks, the creek can be restored and even become a fishing spot once more. The Coeur D’Alene tribes have begun just that on an upper stretch of the creek using federal habitat restoration money.

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Like most of the landscape in Eastern Washington, the South Hill Bluffs in Spokane reveal the incredible influence of Lake Missoula’s ice dam that broke apart and surged through the area around 20,000 years ago. The layers of clay, silt, and rock, can be seen in the ridges of the Bluffs all along the valley.

Today, evidence of the flood waters can also be seen in fossilized vegetation as well as present day flora throughout the Bluffs. Native wildflowers include sunflowers, buttercups and yellow bells, as well as plants that provided rich sources of food to the local tribes in the form of roots, berries, herbs and seeds. Arrowleaf balsamroot, biscuitroot and bunchgrass are still seen in abundance along the trails that wind through the Bluffs from High Drive downwards.

Though the Spokane Tribe members that once used these resources were forcibly dispossessed and relocated by the federal government in the late 19th century, many Spokanes still visit and live in the area. The plants and flowers now provide food and shelter for various animals and birds. Just recently, Black bear scat was found along one of the trails and there is also occasional evidence of coyotes as well as the more familiar sightings of raccoons, skunks and porcupines. As more people use the trails, whether hiking or biking, it’s important to maintain a balance that allows dog walkers and nature lovers to peacefully coexist with native wildlife.

The Friends of the Bluffs help preserve this balance by keeping the trails clearly marked, cutting back overhanging or encroaching vegetation, and preserving the surrounding habitat.

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The area known as Vinegar Flats has a diverse history and was once home to local tribes, pioneers from the East coast, as well as new immigrants moving into Spokane. As early as 1874 there were small farms and orchards springing up with apple and peach trees hanging with fruit. Joshua R. Stafford had recently moved from Ohio in 1881 to homestead this modest portion of the growing city. He started out farming but quickly moved into real estate and platted the township known then as Stafford’s Addition. But it wasn’t until almost ten years later that the area was finally mapped and given the name we know it by today.

Businesses moved in, including mills and brickmakers, and in 1888 F.G. Hieber opened his first brewery though he later moved to a larger building in Spokane. The name Vinegar Flats gained currency when in 1890 it became home to a vinegar factory and the pungent smell permeated the entire area. The Keller-Lorenz Vinegar Works used Hieber’s leftover brewing equipment, and employed locals and newly-arrived Chinese workers.

When the factory began operations in 1890, vinegar was especially important for the preservation of a variety of foods. In an era before household refrigeration, pickling in vinegar was a common method of preserving fruits and vegetables. The Vinegar Works operated in the three-story building at 11th Avenue and Spruce Street until 1958 producing cider, malt, and white wine vinegar. It wasn’t until the 1930s that refrigerators became commonplace and the need for pickling foods became less important. This new era of both commercial and domestic refrigeration, coupled with better roads for transportation, meant that factories like the Keller -Lorenz Vinegar Works eventually went out of business.

Although the settlement flourished, it never really outgrew its humble beginnings. Today, the valley is still somewhat of a hidden jewel surrounded by beautiful countryside with local farms and walking trails dotting the landscape but sections of the cement floor and red brick walls from the old vinegar factory can still be found.

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The West Central neighborhood was platted in the 1880’s when William Pettet and William Nettleton invested heavily in the area. The neighborhood grew with new homes and businesses and hundreds of people moved to the area. Development was accelerated with the trolley system in the 1890s. You can still see streetcar track remnants on Cochran and Dean avenues, part of a system built by the Washington Water Power Co. in 1899. Accessibility to Natatorium Park and the scenic views of the river provided a wonderful recreational retreat for the thriving community.

In the early 1900s West Central, like other Spokane neighborhoods, boasted a series of small neighborhood groceries. Today however, West Central is in an area that is known as a “food desert,” a Federal Government designation that includes a lack of transportation as well as a scarcity of grocery and produce stores. The neighborhood is encircled by the Spokane River but its proximity to downtown is hampered by transportation issues and traversing the Monroe Street Bridge.

Project Hope is working to overcome these problems and focuses directly on the West Central neighborhood. Its mission is to engage young adults ages eleven to eighteen in a business model that provides education and job training as well as offering locally grown fruits and vegetables to some of the neighborhood’s poorest communities. As part of the organization, kids learn how to grow, sell, and promote the produce to locals. It not only provides them with marketable skills but also keeps them out of trouble.

James Kashork, the director of Project Hope, believes the organization is at a crossroads and points to the rapid increase in participation over the last three years. With a crew of just twenty-four volunteers in 2013, three years later the number is in the seventies. Kashork believes with additional funding they’ll be able to transition older kids from volunteers to paid employees. With a grant and a generous donation from the Kendall Yards’ developers, Project Hope will eventually have a new location which will house an additional market as well as the organization’s headquarters. The new development will be named the William’s Market - honoring the famous two Williams who helped create the neighborhood originally.

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Local family owned businesses help create and define neighborhoods and in the early part of Spokane’s history small butcher shops, supply stores and dairies were a familiar sight. Built in 1905 and originally a family-owned butcher shop known as St. Paul’s Market, this store was one of the few commercial buildings in the mostly residential neighborhood of west central Spokane.

From 1910 to 1936 it was owned by Julius J. Danielson, and was notable for housing a neighborhood church in its basement as well as being a general meeting place for local community members. The Westminster Presbyterian Church was established in May 1905 by Dr. James H. Shields, (later becoming pastor,) and eventually moved to a location nearby on North Cannon street.
In 1936, the St Paul’s Market closed but the building continued to operate as a meat and grocery market until the 1960’s under the name The Dean Avenue Market. Although you cannot see them from the shop itself, the original meat hooks used in the butcher shop a hundred years ago are still visible in the residential portion of the store.

The building served other business over the years but had been largely neglected until 2006 when Brian Jennings and his wife decided to buy the old store and renovate. They looked to the community for ideas about what business would best serve the area and eventually settled on a bakery and catering business. Today the interior of the store has been completely renovated --Batch bakeshop continues the tradition of being a community hub and sells delicious baked goods and coffee as well as offering catered weddings and custom cakes. Stop by and ask about the rich history of the building.

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In the early years of the 20th century, Gilbert Chamberlin and his son Ernest created much of the West Central neighborhood.

Spokane was a booming city in the early part of the twentieth century attracting a great many land prospectors from across the country. Newcomers such as William Nettleton and William Pettet may have platted the West Central area in 1887 but it was Gilbert Chamberlin and his son Ernest who designed and constructed many of the first houses. Chamberlin had already made a name for himself in other areas and had built several suburban neighborhoods in Kansas and Utah before arriving in Spokane in 1899. By 1912 he had built hundreds of homes for the bustling west central neighborhood. He credited his success to being a good businessman and a fair dealer. He also noted that the area was in great demand; streetcars were popular and the Natatorium Park brought families and visitors to the area in their hundreds.

In 1912, Chamberlin had provided simple bungalows to over four hundred new residents to West Central and continued to invest in real estate. Historian, N.W. Durham, wrote of Chamberlin, “many of the successful men of today owe their advancements in part to the Chamberlin companies, whereby they have been enabled to gain homes of their own and make a start in life.” Much like the Sears Catalogs, the Chamberlin Real Estate company also created catalog designs of homes that were very distinctive and helped shape the look of the neighborhood.

A wonderful example of the Chamberlin design is the house at 2627 W Gardner. Although the interior of the home has been modified over the years, the exterior of the house has remained the same and still features many distinctive architectural details of a classic Queen Anne bungalow including the pitched roof, multiple cross gables, and decorative corbelled chimney cap. The house was also featured in the 1907 edition of Spokane’s Home Builders and is now on the Spokane Register of Historic Places. Take a look at this beautiful home and see if you can spot other Chamberlin homes in the area!

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Every Spokane neighborhood has its beloved iconic business. The Milk Bottle in Garland, Dicks Hamburgers and Frankie’s Diner downtown, and The Elk in Browne’s Addition help define the unique character of their neighborhoods. In West Central, Doyle’s Ice Cream Parlor is such a local landmark.

An icon of small businesses in Spokane, the beloved Doyle’s Ice Cream Parlor has been serving the West Central neighborhood since 1940. Originally owned and run by Arthur Doyle, who opened his business at the age of 28, it regularly receives awards for best ice-cream in the area and is famous for its Huckleberry cone.

Stepping inside Doyle’s is like entering a time machine to an earlier day. The store has the original working soda fountain fixtures as well as the antique 1940s ice-cream equipment. The menu includes such classic treats as ‘black and whites’ and ‘Banana Splits’. In addition to its icy treats, Doyle’s houses an incredible display of vintage and collectible toys, games, and ice-cream memorabilia. There is even a fortune-telling machine that once was part of Natatorium Park. Jerry Gill, the new owner of Doyle’s, lived just two houses down from the ice-cream shop when he was a boy and has no intention of changing its nostalgic feel.

The building itself was built in 1928 and was originally a barber shop and beauty salon. It sits on the corner of West Boone and Nettleton and little has changed inside or out with the same clapboard facade and what looks like the original sign. As the neighborhood enjoys a revitalization, with new restaurants and the Kendall Yards expansion, Doyle’s remains a firm part of the local area and hopes to continue serving the West Central neighborhood for many years to come.

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Beginning in the 1800s, many Catholic parents began to believe that their children were not served by a system of public education that was dominated by Protestant educators and elected officials. Catholic schools were founded across the country in an effort to provide an education that was both up-to-date and aligned with their faith.

In Spokane, St Joseph's Catholic Church in west central oversaw one of the first parish schools in the area. The Hamilton Building on the corner of Dean and Walnut is a large structure that was originally part of the catholic school and was used as a gym and an assembly hall. Additional buildings included….XX. There were at least ten other parochial schools in Spokane at this time with several thousand school pupils attending. The school offered the basic three “Rs,” plus Religion, and operated on a similar schedule to public schools. According to the Review, a case of Scarlet Fever closed the school for a full week in February 1953 but it reopened after the scare was over.

The building itself, built in 1928, is a fine example of the Spanish Eclectic style with distinctive tile and roof features designed by well-known architect Julius Zittel. Zittel was originally from Germany and designed many buildings in Spokane including several other Catholic churches and school buildings, (among them Gonzaga’s St. Aloysius church.) He was appointed state architect in 1897 which was a testament to his prolific work.

The church closed the gym in 1969 and the building was then purchased by Donald Hamilton who remodeled the interior, switched out the old St. Joseph’s sign and turned it into a photography studio. Don Hamilton and his team still house their photography and film production firm in the building and offer services that include radio commercials and documentaries, as well as still photography and studio rentals. The original Catholic School sign now adorns the inside of the building and other curios and artifacts from its school days have been found including a radioactive clay jug --this last object was given to the planned Hanford History Museum to safeguard.

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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 traveling shows in America. Railway expansion allowed them to travel further west, stopping at several cities and towns along the way. Alongside these famous two, other shows sprang up including Midways, Pit Shows, Sideshows and Freak Shows. Some were modeled on the family friendly Big Tops and some were most definitely not. One clown in Barnum’s circus noted many were “G-strings with a G-rating.”

The Nat Reiss Carnival was among those aimed at a family friendly audience. One of the biggest reasons for this was that it set up its tents at the year round Natatorium Park in west Spokane. The Natatorium already served the community with fairground rides and the famous Looff carousel. The Southern Carnival Company, owned by Reiss, made an annual sweep through Spokane on route to Walla Walla and Seattle and featured such attractions as “Midgets and Mazes” and ‘Maximo the incredible diving dog.’ The carnival shows were especially welcomed by children.

October 8th 1904 was a special night for the orphaned children of Spokane. Residents of St. Joseph’s Orphanage were admitted free of charge to experience the wonders of the carnival grounds and the sideshows. Included in the show were ‘little people’ and their miniature horse and carriage, a mirror maze, fire-eaters and ‘Captain Sorcho’, a deep sea diver. This last exhibit was performed with a large fourteen foot tank viewable from every side.

Other shows mentioned by local newspapers included a troop of Japanese performers, glass-blowers and ‘Alice the Wonder Freak’ a nod to the freak shows popular in smaller carnivals. From the line-up it is fairly clear Nat’s carnival wasn’t about to rival the Ringling Brothers but it was looked forward to each year and continued to visit Spokane throughout the early 1900s.

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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. At the turn of the nineteenth century there was not only a demand for charitable organizations for unwed mothers and ‘street women’ but also a push from evangelists to administer to those "fallen" women.

Philanthropist and preacher Charles Nelson Crittenton opened several homes for unwed mothers across the country. Crittenton traveled through the United States, holding services for those “outcast girls” preaching salvation. The first home, named after his late daughter Florence, was opened in New York’s red light district in 1882 and more followed.

The Florence Crittenton Home in Spokane opened in 1903 and was housed in a small church building with funding from various sources including the Elks, the Masons, the Woodsmen, and from a selection of charitable ladies organizations. It provided a safe place for unmarried mothers and was designed to encourage “destitute, homeless and wayward women to seek reformation of character and responsibility of life through the religion of Jesus Christ.” In 1923 the building was outdated and overpopulated and additional funding was needed. Letters and ads were sent out and money poured in from local business merchants and charities to provide an addition to the home. That same month, however, a freak fire broke out and the building burned to the ground.

The money raised earlier that month was used to move the home to a building on North Cedar Street and it continued to operate with accommodations for around twenty-five mothers and their babies until the beginning of the 1940’s. In 1942, with a greater need in larger cities such as Seattle and only a few mothers still in the Spokane Home, the Florence Crittenton Home closed its doors.

Today, the National Crittenton Association continues to support women and children and their families across the United States. Although the Spokane office moved, the building itself is still operational and houses several businesses including two beauty salons and an attorney’s office.

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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 prove it. Sperry Mill, on Sprague, was owned and operated by the Sperry Flour Company, originally from California. Sperry owned at least fourteen other mills in that region. Built in 1918, the construction of this mill continued despite World War I and in fact provided the United States Government with surplus grain for the war effort.

By 1919 Sperry Mill produced 1,000 barrels a day with a capacity for 2,000 if needed. It employed more than one hundred men in its milling and packing plant and combined the most cutting edge technology of the time including the ‘Carter-Mayhew process’ for washing the grain. Spokane citizens were invited to visit the mill in its opening weeks to marvel at the stainless steel and enameled machinery covering nine floors. As productivity increased, other commercial ventures came to the East Central neighborhood and homes began to be built.

This particular mill was a vital part of the East Central neighborhood, providing jobs and community events that included family picnics. It provided high quality flour to Spokane and surrounding towns with its most famous product called ‘Drifting Snow’ flour. Around 1929, the General Mills company bought the mill and business continued but in 1965 the original flour milling operation closed due to a general decline in production and exports.

Today the old Sperry Mill is still in use and relatively unchanged. It now operates as a mix plant for food products manufacturing and packing plant construction owned by privately run company, ADM.

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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 education.

The McKinley School, named after President McKinley, was built in 1902 on the corner of Sprague and Napa. This beautiful brick structure once stood on a large, well-manicured lawn. Containing 8 rooms originally, a 9-room addition was added in 1903. The school was open to both boys and girls and enrollment reached 585 in 1909.

As war loomed in 1917, the McKinley school added a military training program to its curriculum, and girls were sent off to nearby Stevens School in their 7th and 8th grades. Though practice was limited to unarmed drills and exercises, it was one of the first military school programs in Spokane grade schools and much was made of it.

At some point in its early years, the McKinley School earned the distinction of being a junior high for ‘difficult boys’ often taking in students that other schools either couldn’t or didn’t want to handle. In 1928 McKinley lost its junior high students to Libby and Havermale but continued to have elementary classes.

McKinley School closed in 1962. According to the press of the time the chief reasons were the aging of the East Central populace and dwindling numbers of children. Three schools were closed that year and remaining children were transferred to schools such as Parkwater.

Today the building is still standing and remains a beautiful structure both inside and out. The owners have expressed the hope that the city would restore its interior and use it for either a community center or for some other artistic or educational use to serve the East Central and surrounding areas. Lack of funds has kept this dream from being realized but there is continued interest for the future.

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