Since 1989, Spokane unions and workers have observed Workers' Memorial Day to remember those who have died on the job or as a result of work-related illness. The Workers' Memorial here at Mission Park was dedicated on April 25, 1993. Held each year on April 28, the anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the names of those who have died are read.

President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 after a decade of public outcry about the increase in occupational injuries and illnesses. In urging the passage of the bill, members of the House of Representatives argued passionately. "In only 4 years time, as many people have died because of their employment as having been killed in almost a decade of American involvement in Vietnam. Over 2 million workers have disabled annually through job-related accidents," stated Representative Carl D. Perkins. Representative William S. Broomfield argued, "When 75 out of every 100 teenagers now entering the workforce can expect to suffer a disabling injury sometime in his working career, I believe it is time that we face the goal of occupational safety and health not as a matter for partisan politics, but as a challenge to the science and technology of our country." In addition to the loss of life, proponents of the bill added that in addition to the pain and suffering for workers and their families, the injuries cost billions of dollars in medical expenses, lost wages, and production.

Spokane has long been a workingman's town. It served as the hub of employment for mining, lumbering, railroads, and agricultural jobs, some of the most dangerous jobs. After decades of struggle and organizing by unions, improvements have been made in working conditions. However, deaths and injuries are still high. In 2004 more than 56,000 workers died from workplace injuries and illnesses, and another 6 million were seriously injured.

On April 28, 2012 people gathered here to remember "a young construction worker, a veteran firefighter, a grandmother working a sales job, a popular corrections officer - these were among the 69 people honored at 2012 Worker Memorial Day ceremonies around Washington state," said Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council.

For more (including 4 images), view the original article.

Download the Spokane Historical app for Android and iPhone
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube

The Northern Pacific Railroad Depot, now the Amtrak Station, was the site of two events in the dramatic labor history of Spokane.

In April of 1894, "under the flare of gasoline torches," unemployed workers from all over the Inland Northwest gathered, prepared to travel to Washington, D.C. to protest the policies of Congress and President Grover Cleveland. "Going to Washington to See Grover" and "On to Washington," they chanted. "In Spokane, several thousand men and a sprinkling of women were preparing to join Jacob Coxey and other protesters" at the nation's capital.

The second event occurred the same week in April 1894 when 65 members of Coxey's Army were sealed in boxcars for 18 hours and began calling out for food and water. The unemployed men had been arrested in Yakima and were being sent to Seattle for trial through Spokane. The train made a stop at the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot. Their cries for food and water attracted nearly 3,000 worker sympathizers, both men and women. Additional deputies were called in to squelch the crowd as the police chief and city officials grappled with the situation.

Started in Ohio and led by Jacob Coxey an Ohio businessman, Coxey's Army, or Coxeyites as they were called, organized to march on Washington, D.C. They were dismayed because 1894 was the second year of a four-year depression and the worst economic depression in the nation's history up to that time. Across the nation, more than two-and-a-half million unemployed men walked the streets in search of work in the terrible winter of 1893-1894. Although the official name of the group was the "Commonweal in Christ," all over the country men came together forming their own local groups calling themselves Coxey's Army, the Commonweal Army, Commonwealers, and in Montana, Hogan's Band or Hogan's Army. These groups from all over the country planned to come together and join Jacob Coxey in Washington.

Across the nation, Spokane gained the reputation for worker solidarity. The Coxey march was the first large popular protest march on the nation's capital. In popular culture, Coxey's Army was the inspiration for the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Author L. Frank Baum was among the people observing the march.

For more (including 5 images), view the original article.

Download the Spokane Historical app for Android and iPhone
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube

The Spokane Public Bath House was part of the Spokane Parks' master plan, a result of the vision of the Olmstead brothers of the famous family of landscape architects responsible for New York's Central Park. The Olmstead's advocated for parks with the Progressive Era ideals of the time, that parks are the best means of drawing people outside and so "aid to the improvement and preservation of health of the people."

The Public Bath House was built in 1914 but had been proposed by the City of Spokane Park Board in 1912 for this working-class neighborhood. The land had been platted in 1887 and named for Sylvester Heath, one of Spokane's "founding fathers." Many of the homes in this working-class neighborhood were constructed between 1901 and 1903, during one of the strongest residential building booms in the area. Spokane Public Bath House contained showers and changing rooms. Two swimming pools, one for males and one for females, were located outside to the west and north of the building. To swim, people would have to shower first. In this way, the first public swimming pools encouraged personal hygiene in addition to exercise and recreation provided by the swimming pools and aligned with the ideas of the Progressive Era.

The Bath House is located on a triangular-shaped piece of land called the Sinto Triangle Park in 1914. The architecture is in the Italian Renaissance style - rectangular, symmetrical, arched windows, and a center entrance accentuated with classical columns. Harold Whitehouse designed the building. Whitehouse and his partner Earnest Price had a prominent architectural firm in Spokane for 60 years, designing hundreds of homes, commercial buildings, schools, and churches.

The Spokane Public Bath House and swimming pools were in use until 1958 when Witter Pool was built to the north on Mission Avenue. The Bath House was placed on the Spokane Historic Register in November 2011.

For more (including 4 images), view the original article.

Download the Spokane Historical app for Android and iPhone
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube

The Balkan Hotel was built in 1909 as a Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel. SROs were lodging houses that provided basic rooms for laborers that often were single males. The hotel was built at a time when Spokane's population grew 6000% fueled by economic booms in railroads, mining, lumber, and agriculture. Spokane had become the transportation hub of the Inland Northwest and itinerant workers flocked to the region. Balkan-Serbian immigrants inhabited this neighborhood in the eastern section of downtown Spokane during the first decade of business. The early nineteenth century was the height of immigrants coming to Spokane.

Lodging rooms were located on the upper floors, and a saloon, billiards, and restaurant were located on the first floor. Tenants living at The Balkan had a basic room with a radiator to provide heat, a single window, and no closet or plumbing in the room. Each floor had one bathroom containing a sink, toilet, and bath.

The Balkan was owned by R. W. Smith and built by the Pettifer Construction Company, formed in 1908 by J. A. and C. W. Pettifer with architect C. E. Wentzel, a draughtsman for the Washington Water Power Company. Spokane's Schade Brewery paid for the wiring in the Balkan Hotel. The first 15 lodgers were employed at the brewery. The Balkan closed in 1916 possible in response to statewide Prohibition.

The building continued to operate as a hotel until 1955 during which part of the time it was the Salvation Army Hotel serving the needs of the poor and unemployed. The New Dahl Hotel and the Royal Hotel were also the names under which the hotel operated in the mid-1900s.

The Balkan Hotel was placed on the Spokane Historic Register in November 2001.

For more (including 5 images), view the original article.

Download the Spokane Historical app for Android and iPhone
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube

One of the oldest buildings in Spokane, the Woodward has hosted everything from frontier saloons to Chinese-American clubs in its almost 130-year history.

The Woodward Building is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Spokane. It was built in 1890 and was one of the first buildings built after the Great Fire. In August 1889, a fire destroyed all the buildings on this block in addition to 29 square blocks of downtown Spokane.

The building was financed by Minnesota businessman Lafayette Woodward, and designed by Spokane architect Herman Preusse, who also designed several Spokane landmarks, the Armory, Holy Names Academy, and Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral among others.

The Woodward Building was built to provide housing for the many working-class people who flocked to Spokane to work in jobs created by the re-building of the city after the fire and continued economic growth in mining, lumber, and agriculture. Called a Single-Room Occupancy hotel or SRO, the Woodward offered its boarders a basic furnished room. Rooms were located on the second and third floors, and a saloon serving liquor, cigars, and simple food, was located on the street level. The hotel served as a SRO for 51 years.

The Crystal Hotel, the Kingston, the State, and the Moose Hotel were the different names of the SRO from 1890 to 1947. In 1947, after 6 years of sitting vacant, the American Shanghai Club leased the upper floors for the club's headquarters, meeting hall, and possibly rooms for club members. Again the upper floors were vacant through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1970s, the upper floors were remodeled as offices and have been used continuously for various businesses from an architectural firm to telecommunications businesses.

The saloon on the street level changed hands several times, first in 1890 the Duffy and Hill's Saloon, Duffy and Butler's Saloon, the Howard Saloon, the Butler and Tibballs Saloon, and in 1909, the 117 Bar. From 1912 to 1914 the first floor served as home to a theater with "moving pictures." In 1915, a meat market occupied the first floor, a restaurant opened in 1917, and the Carolina Café in 1923. During the 1920s, Jimmie Durkin, the infamous bartender and saloon keeper of early Spokane, purchased the Woodward. Durkin operated a quiet restaurant until leasing it to Woodworth's Café in 1934, and the Hil-Mar Dinette from 1939 to 1950. From the 1950s to the present businesses have ranged from apparel and music to import goods and bridal fashions.

The Woodward Building was placed on the Spokane Historic Register in November 2002.

For more (including 5 images), view the original article.

Download the Spokane Historical app for Android and iPhone
Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube