Local History

Top stories in this topic

• 100 years ago avalanche wreaked havoc in the Cascades

  February 28, 2010 in Features on Page D1 On Feb. 28, 1910, exactly 100 years ago, a group of desperate Great Northern train passengers – many from Spokane – signed the following petition addressed to the railroad superintendent: … 2

• Forest Van Dorn

  February 22, 2010 in Idaho on Page A5 Next August marks the 100th anniversary of the 1910 Fire, which swept across 3 million acres in Idaho, Washington and Montana during a two-day firestorm. At least 85 people – …

• Sunday’s crusade

  December 21, 2008 in Features on Page D1 One hundred years ago this Christmas Day, evangelist Billy Sunday arrived in Spokane to launch a thundering, pulpit-shaking battle for this wicked city’s immortal soul. Welcome to Spokane’s Culture Wars, …

• The first police force

  October 12, 2008 in Features on Page D1 Spokane Police Officer Alfred Waterbury was just doing his duty. But that duty, as duty sometimes does, led to his death. 1

• Spokane Garry

  September 21, 2008 in Features on Page D1 Most of us know exactly one thing about Chief Garry: His crumbling statue in Chief Garry Park was hauled away in May. Maybe you picked up a few other details … 1

• Jewish beginnings

  April 20, 2008 in Features on Page D1 What better day than the first day of Passover to recount the history of Spokane’s Jewish community? And what better day to remind everyone of this surprising fact: In 1892, …

• FAST TRACK TO FAME

    January 27, 2008 in Features on Page D1 Some people have a serious gap in their Inland Northwest cultural knowledge: They don’t know Patrice Munsel.

• Calamity Jane: Part cheers, mostly booze

  February 26, 2006 in Features on Page D1 Everybody knows Calamity Jane. Some know her as Jane Russell, some as Doris Day and some as Robin Weigert in a particularly foul-mouthed version in HBO’s hit, “Deadwood.” But did …

• Disaster on Division

  January 29, 2006 in Features on Page D10 A sleepy bunch of Spokane workmen were riding the Astor streetcar to work at 6 a.m. on Dec. 18, 1915, when, suddenly, the Division Street Bridge collapsed violently beneath them. …

• When dragons roamed Trent

  August 14, 2005 in Features on Page D10 Once there was a place in Spokane called Trent Alley, which might have been dropped intact from early San Francisco or Seattle – or even Tokyo or Hong Kong. In …

• Pioneer bridges

  July 17, 2005 in Features on Page D7 The announcement that the Monroe Street Bridge will reopen in September prompted this question from a reader: When did the first bridges cross the Spokane River? The short answer: 1864 …

• Paving the way: The automobile revolution profoundly changed the Inland Northwest

  December 5, 1995 in City, Features, News As social revolutions go, this one was a whopper. The automobile revolution began nearly 100 years ago, and it profoundly changed America and the Inland Northwest. In the space of …