Jesse Tinsley

In April 1916, 80 to 100 members of the Spokane County Progressive Party held their county convention and elected 22 delegates for the state convention in June. The progressives, also nicknamed the Bull Moose Party after former President Theodore Roosevelt, were an offshoot of the Republican Party.

There are four buildings on the south side of the 200 block of West Riverside Avenue that date back to 1905 to 1909. They are some of the few existing single-room-occupancy hotels that once filled old Spokane. More than 150 such hotels housed workers from 1895 to 1915, when the city’s population exploded, quadrupling to more than 100,000 people in 20 years.

In 1979, two important downtown buildings were demolished to clear the way for Spokane’s tallest skyscraper.

Spokane’s retail scene in the early 20th century featured stores like the Wonder, Palace and Culbertson-Grote-Rankin department stores which defined the modern shopping experience. Those stores were then sold or merged with Culbertson’s, Penneys or Bon Marché.

The stadium that was later named for sports booster Joe Albi opened as Spokane Memorial Stadium in 1950. Intended for multiple uses, one of the first events was the Apple Cup between the Washington State Cougars and the Washington Huskies. It had been 40 years since the Apple Cup was played at a Spokane venue.

The popular discount stores of the early 20th century didn’t pop up overnight. Many startups and small chains either had merged or consolidated with bigger companies.

Getting roadways across rivers and railroads was always a challenge in Spokane. As residents spread through Spokane Valley, north-south arterials became critical.

The story of Brunot Hall is about the growth of Protestantism in the West and education of girls from well-to-do families in early Spokane.