In Spokane as in the rest of the United States, structural racism has taken many forms. Among the most consequential has been segregated housing. Restricting racial minorities to certain "redlined" neighborhoods served to prevent the targeted groups from building political power or inter-generational wealth. Though legally abolished by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, racial discrimination in housing continued to be written into legal documents for decades and shapes the city to this day. The…

World War Two was pivotal for Spokane and the Inland Northwest. The U.S. Military viewed the region as strategically valuable, so existing military facilities, including Fort George Wright and Felts Field were expanded. Thousands of American soldiers came into the area for training, including bomber pilots and crews at Geiger Field and submarine crews at Farragut. New supply depots were built, including the Spokane Army Air Depot which was renamed Fairchild Airforce Base following the war, and…

The Ghost Signs tour is a student-led project that cataloged the signs painted on the sides of the downtown buildings. In addition to this digital tour, students created a walking tour complete with a pamphlet.

Welcome to Riverfront Park, a beautiful stretch of land and river located in downtown Spokane. This hundred acre park sprawls across two islands and both shorelines, providing visitors with breathtaking views of both upper and lower Spokane Falls. But this natural oasis was once a tangled mess of steel and concrete. It was home to several railroad companies, whose unsightly tresses hid the river from view. In the 1960's, a determined group of citizens conceived to clean up the river and reclaim…

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…

A tour of one of Spokane's most iconic parks, Manito Park.

Sponsored by the Spokane Regional Health District, this oral history project documents the devastating effects of the construction of the I-90 freeway on the East Central neighborhood.

Japanese-Americans have a long history in Spokane. From their arrival with the railroad to their struggles in WWII, the city contains many remnants reminding us of our strong ties with the Japanese-American community. Here you will find a tour highlighting historic sites related to the history of Spokane's Japanese-American community.

No city is an island. The major historical events of 20th-century America all had their influences on Spokane. The exhibits in this tour were created by the students in Dr. Larry Cebula's class, Introduction to Public History, taught at Eastern Washington University in 2019. With the guidance of Anna Harbine, the Johnston-Fix Curator of Archives and Special Collections at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, they explored the museum archives for untold stories. Working as a team, they…