During the 1920s and 1930s, Spokane's Riverside Avenue was more than a bustling hub of downtown commerce—it was also a shadowy stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan. Behind unassuming office doors, the "Invisible Empire" quietly orchestrated its activities, embedding itself within the fabric of the city's political and social institutions.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Hyde Building on W. Riverside Avenue served as the headquarters for Spokane Ku Klux Klan. This building, located in the heart of downtown, also housed offices for the U.S. District Court in Spokane. The Klan used official letterhead with this address and held private meetings there to expand their influence not only in the Spokane area, but throughout Washington as well.
 
The Ku Klux Klan experienced a resurgence in the United States during the post-World War I period, and Spokane was no exception. At its height within Washington, the Klan boasted 40,000 paid members (approximately 1 out of 10 eligible native-born men in the state between the ages of 21 and 79).

According to a July 1921 article in Spokesmen-Review, the KKK distributed a printed copy of their creed, promoting the values of "white supremacy, limitation of foreign immigration, a closer relationship of pure Americanism, freedom of speech and press.” Nationally, the Klan capitalized on fears about immigration, changing social norms, and religious diversity, professing to uphold and defend “Americanism.”

Locally, the group targeted immigrants, Catholics, and African Americans. One of their largest public events in Spokane was a rally in 1923 on Five Mile Prairie, where a 40-foot flaming cross was lit following a parade of over 200 cars. The Spokane Daily Chronicle reported that 50 new members were initiated during the event.
 
Prominent local figures played leadership roles in the Spokane Klan, as well as the statewide Klan. Reverend C.A. Rexroad of Corbin Park Methodist Church was the “Exalted Cyclops,” or head of the Spokane Klan, during the early 1920s. His public position as a pastor helped recruit new members. In the late 1920s, E.B. Quackenbush, a Spokane attorney, rose to the position of “Grand Dragon” for the entire Klan in Washington State. These two men were well acquainted. Coincidentally, in a 1924 lawsuit, Quackenbush represented Rexroad in a civil suit. Quackenbush’s influence extended beyond Spokane; in 1929, he was honored with a ceremonial key to the city of Bellingham by the town's mayor. These leaders used their positions to strengthen the Klan’s presence and influence throughout the region.

The Klan’s activities in the Spokane area included inflammatory speaking events at local high schools, rallies, and initiation events, as well as more covert forms of intimidation, such as threatening letters. One such note was sent to Black residents in 1921 warning them to leave the city. The Klan publicly denied responsibility in the local press, but incidents like this contributed to their reputation for spreading fear and division.
 
Spokane’s African-American community actively resisted the Klan’s influence. Anchored by churches like Bethel African Methodist Episcopal and Calvary Baptist Church, the community organized to protect their rights. Political groups such as the NAACP and the Spokane County Colored Republican Club provided additional support. In one notable case, when a local drugstore denied service to Black patrons, the community challenged the discrimination in court and won a ruling affirming their right to equal treatment.

Additionally, the Spokane Chronicle reported in July 1921 that "colored citizens of the city will meet to form the 'colored citizens protective community.' Rev. T. F. Jones of the Bethel A. M. E. church was quoted in the article, declaring "we consider this action necessary because of rumors that a branch of the KKK is being formed in Spokane. We believe we must present a united front if the rights of the colored population are to be protected."
 
The Klan’s efforts to expand were challenged not only by the African-American community but also by local officials and media. Spokane’s newspapers reported critically on the Klan’s activities, while some city leaders worked to prevent the group from gaining more political influence. Indeed, in a 1921 editorial published in the Spokane Press, an anonymous author wrote "Why should any person who intends to behave lawfully join the Ku Klux Klan...We don’t want any Ku Klux Klan!" The Klan’s tactics often backfired, as public backlash grew against their extremist behavior – especially with the statewide defeat of a 1924 initiative targeting Catholic schools in Washington.
 
By the early 1930s, the Klan’s power in Spokane began to decline. National scandals surrounding the organization, internal corruption, and the economic pressures of the Great Depression weakened the Klan. Membership dropped sharply by the World War II era, and their public activities in the Pacific Northwest became less frequent. In Spokane, the combination of organized public opposition (especially from local marginalized groups) and shifting public priorities limited the Klan’s reach.
 
The story of the Ku Klux Klan in Spokane reveals how hate-fueled organizations manipulated societal anxieties to gain social influence and political power. At the same time, it highlights how the resilience and unity of those who opposed them demonstrated the enduring strength of compassion and community in overcoming fear.

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The Marne bridge across Latah Creek is the only World War one monument in Spokane

American involvement in the First World War was at first unpopular--and nowhere more than Spokane.

As the great powers of Europe stumbled into conflict in 1914, few Spokanites saw it as their fight. Though they did have opinions. The strong population of German immigrants in eastern Washington often favored Germany and the Central Powers. Other locals, perhaps the majority, rooted for England and France. Residents followed the progress of the war through the new medium of movie newsreels--until a series of fistfights between supporters of two sides caused the mayor to ban the further showing of war newsreels in Spokane theaters.

This changed overnight when American entered the war in 1917, and Spokane residents pivoted to supporting the war effort. Citizens signed pledge cards promising to avoid certain foods (more for the troops!), to buy war bonds, and of course to volunteer for the army. A Spokane baker reported that "We are anxiously awaiting these instructions and will aid the government in every way possible to preserve wheat flour.”

Spokane would send 11,000 men to serve in the military, about a tenth of their population. Newspapers and even churches shamed people who were not seen as supporting the war effort. Sometimes the simple failure to buy a war bond could get a person's name, address, and place of work printed in the Spokesman-Review for all to see.

The war's end brought joy to Spokane, which was considerably tempered when returning soldiers came home with a particularly virulent strain of influenza. Public places were closed for weeks as hundreds of Spokanites fell ill and died in what was known as the Spanish Flu Epidemic.

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Long time Spokanites have a handy explanation for when things go wrong in city government- a curse

In the summer of 1986, 18 police officers conducted an unwarranted search on the homes of two Romani-American families who the police suspected were in possession of some stolen property. The search yielded over 1.6 million dollars in cash and $160,000 in jewelry on the premises. The Marks Family, unofficial leaders of the Romani community at the time, did the only rational thing they could think of. Led by Grover Marks, the late patriarch of the clan, they cursed Spokane and then sued the city for forty million dollars for the unlawful raid of their homes, eventually settling at 1.43 million dollars at the end of the successful court case.

James “Senator” Marks, Grover Marks’ son, was at the center of all the talk about curses. Every city hall scandal, every civil problem had, Marks would cite the curse as the true cause of the issue. Nothing was sacred or safe from this curse, not the crash of the B-52 at Fairchild, not the death of former Public Administrator Novak’s son. Marks claimed the curse was the true cause of it all at various City Council meetings, where he often would remind the city that “the curse has worked well.” James Marks became a regular at City council meetings up until his eventual death in 2007.

James’ son Michael “Duke” Marks proclaimed at James’ funeral that “The curse, I think, is off Spokane, we appreciate everything that has been done, all of the kind words and sympathy.” A kind gesture towards Spokane, except that upon Grover Marks’ death in 1997 James Mark stopped the funeral procession in front of Spokane City Hall. His reason? To open the door of the hearse his father’s body was in and let his father’s ghost loose to “haunt the building for all eternity.”

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In 1954, the long and deadly hand of the Cold War touched the Spokane Reservation. Uranium was found in the remote mountains. To exploit this fuel and bomb-making material the Midnite Mine opened run by the Dawn Mining Company. The radioactive ore was used to build nuclear reactors and weapons, and the tribe was left with a toxic legacy that continues to this day.

At its height the Midnite Mine employed approximately five hundred people from the Spokane reservation. In fact the people who found the site were a pair of brothers from the Spokane Tribe, Jim and John Lebret. The jobs the mine provided were much appreciated by many on the reservation. However, the dangers of the green speckled stones were not understood. Some employees would come home with pieces of radioactive ore sprinkled on their clothes, exposing their families to the radiation.

Today the legacy of the Midnite Mine is a superfund site (US federal government program for cleaning toxic waste sites). High levels of radiation contaminated huge swaths of the Spokane reservation, not just the mine itself but also the Blue Creek drainage system in which the treated radioactive water is currently dumped. There are advisories to not eat the animals, and plants collected in the Blue Creek system. Blue Creek carries its radioactive legacy into the Spokane River, which flows into the Columbia.

Clean up of the highly toxic site begins in 2015. The new plan must meet the strict standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and water quality standards set by the Spokane Tribe. The new plans will cap the open pits, and transport the treated water directly to the Spokane River.

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After hundreds of years of American oppression, American Indians gained the right to vote in the land they called home since time immemorial with the passing of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Native Americans, new to the political scene worked to organize political coalitions. In 1925 and 1926 white business owners of Spokane leveraged this new position of local Native Americans to their advantage. They organized an "Indian Congress" to market Spokane.

The pageantry, and the over top manner in which the Native Americans were photographed and displayed in the middle of the city were ploys to spark attention from the media. Regional newspapers did not disappoint. They wrote stories, detailing the "Halloween parade" that included Natives in full regalia on horseback, and the display of "Indian curios" at local businesses.

Approximately, 3000 Natives came to Spokane for the event in 1925. They camped all over the city in large lodges or teepees; the most iconic pictures of the event being a row of Blackfeet lodges on the median of Riverside Avenue. Glover Field was filled with over seventy lodges. Beauty contests, parades, stick games, and teepee building contests were held all over the city.

After two consecutive meetings of the Indian Congress, it ended because Natives saw no point in continuing in a meeting organized as a marketing ploy that did nothing to further Indian rights. The Spokane Indian Congress has no connection to the National Congress of American Indians formed in 1944 in Denver, Colorado. NCAI.

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