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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Sells-Floto Circus arrived in Spokane for a two-day stay, and it caused much excitement among little boys and, apparently, newspaper reporters.

“Sing ho, for the circus!” was the way one reporter began his story.

He reported that “hundreds of juvenile eyes” were glued to the spectacle of the circus tents being hauled up and animals being unloaded from rail cars.

“From the menagerie came the roars of wild beasts, inspired by hunger and the smell of fresh meat,” said the story. “Interspersing the bedlam came chatterings of poll parrots and cries of feathered creatures.”

From the fashion beat: The local chapter of the National Congress of Mothers went on a crusade against the fad of “silly” girls in Spokane wearing tight skirts – a fashion imported from France.

“These girls only succeed in attracting attention because they appear ridiculous or indecent,” sniffed one mother.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1914: Transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. began with the first test phone conversation between New York and San Francisco. … 1948: Britain’s King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London. … 1958: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.