Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The legislative session began and the big news out of Olympia was this: “The elephant and the bull moose lay down together and pledged support for rebuilding the Cheney normal school.”

Here’s the translation: The Republican Party and the Progressive Party joined together to back an appropriation to rebuild the main building of what is today called Eastern Washington University.

The college’s main building burned down April 24, 1912. The school had been operating out of temporary quarters since then. 

The elephant and the bull moose eventually got the job done. The …

From our archives, 100 years ago

The legislative session began and the big news out of Olympia was this: “The elephant and the bull moose lay down together and pledged support for rebuilding the Cheney normal school.”

Here’s the translation: The Republican Party and the Progressive Party joined together to back an appropriation to rebuild the main building of what is today called Eastern Washington University.

The college’s main building burned down April 24, 1912. The school had been operating out of temporary quarters since then. 

The elephant and the bull moose eventually got the job done. The Legislature would eventually authorize a new main building, finished in 1915. Today, that building is called Showalter Hall.

Teachers colleges in those days were called normal schools, in a name derived from the French ecole normale. 

From the hero beat: Cecil Robert Karberg, a former Spokane newspaper reporter, was posthumously awarded a Carnegie Hero’s Medal. 

Karberg drowned in San Diego while attempting to save the life of a 13-year-old girl. Karberg’s mother was given her son’s medal and the $500 prize.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1917: The U.S. paid Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.