Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane welcomed the man who was, by almost any reckoning, America’s biggest hero.

Former president Theodore Roosevelt arrived by train at 9:35 p.m. and planned to spend the next two days in Spokane. The city had been preparing for his visit for months.

The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial that said:

“Spokane extends the glad hand of welcome to Theodore Roosevelt, not only as the country’s most distinguished private citizen, but as the people’s best friend.

“ … Mr. Roosevelt is an easterner with a western temperament. Long before he drove the Spaniards from San Juan Hill or self-seekers from the White House, he drove cattle on the western ranges.

“… And Spokane welcomes him not as a demi-god, not as an ex-president to whom formal homage must be paid, but rather as a friend of the family who has returned …”

He was greeted by a “tremendous crush” at the Northern Pacific depot and then he retired for the night to a suite at the Davenport Hotel.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1862: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.