Jesse Tinsley

Edward L. Powell was 11 years old when his family moved west by covered wagon from Ohio to Oregon in 1862. After studying civil engineering, he worked for the railroad. But his health was poor and he couldn’t keep up with the railroad life. So he went to teach school in Walla Walla, then operate a general store in Waitsburg for 18 years.

John W. Binkley, a Spokane pioneer attorney and judge, built a mixed-use building on two lots at First Avenue and Monroe Street in 1899. He named it Montvale, after his rural estate on the Little Spokane River.

Inventor Charles Oudin and other partners founded American Fire Brick Co. in Mica in 1902. And they’ve been making bricks there ever since.

Patsy Clark’s mansion is one of the most recognizable homes in Spokane. It ranks high among the palatial homes built by Spokane’s early millionaires.

Liberty Lake, a recreation destination for local residents as early as 1900, was named for Etienne Eduard La Liberte, a mail carrier and guide for the U.S. Army.

Spokanites have loved the Japanese garden at Manito Park for family outings, nature photos and quiet meditation since it’s opening in 1974. The area is named for Nishinomiya, Japan, Spokane’s sister city, where businessman Ed Tsutakawa spent his early years.

When the seven-foot kid from Torun, Poland arrived at Gonzaga University to play basketball in 2012, he made an immediate impact. The previous season wasn’t bad, with a 25-10 record behind a talented squad that included Robert Sacre, Elias Harris and Steven Gray. They beat St. John’s, then lost to Brigham Young University in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Then and now offers a glimpse of Spokane as it was a century ago.

As authorities monitor flooding this week around the Spokane region, the damage sustained can’t compare to some of Spokane’s worst flooding seasons. There have been many years where floodwaters have hit the city’s low-lying areas.

The Washington Flower Growers Association organized around 1925 to help a dozen or more Spokane and Idaho greenhouse operators market and ship their flowers to florists and stores around the region. In the early 1930s, the cooperative took over one of the large warehouses on Havermale Island, giving them convenient access to trains for shipping their products.

Frank P. Hogan, born in Ireland in 1848, didn’t leave his name on much in Spokane. But he was a pivotal figure in the city’s growth.

In 1990, the Spokane Arts Commission and Central Business Association teamed up to cover the walls of the downtown railroad viaduct with murals – instead of graffiti.

David Lynde Huntington, born in 1870, arrived in Spokane to take an engineering job with W.W.P. in 1894. Within two years, he was managing the day-to-day operations as well as the company’s streetcar system.

Now part of the Dishman Hills Natural Area, Camp Caro has a long history of serving Girl Scouts, church members and youth groups.

The Spokane Outboard Club formed in 1954 with just a handful of families who wanted to socialize and share their love of boating.

One of the seven becomes queen on Sunday.

Earl D. McCarthy left Washington State College in 1938, and started working for Sears and Roebuck and, later, the John W. Graham Co. McCarthy served in the Navy in World War II. After the war, he worked for a development company, then struck out on his own in 1949. He later told a reporter that he went into commercial real estate “because there was nothing else to sell.” He specialized in build-to-suit commercial property, retaining ownership and managing the properties afterward.

Did you ever wonder why there was, for many years, a Desert Hotel in Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Ritzville, far from any actual desert? It started with an immigrant named Victor Dessert from French-speaking Alsace-Lorraine. He was a blacksmith for the Northern Pacific Railroad as it built its railway into Spokane in 1881, but he is best remembered for opening one of Spokane’s earliest hotels, Russ House, beside the N.P. railroad tracks in 1885. Lodging was 25 cents and each meal was 25 cents. His advertisements read, “Best $1.00 A Day Hotel In The City.” He built the 15-room Pacific Hotel nearby at First Avenue and Post Street.

Memorial Day 1942 was a solemn event for a nation at war.

During the Depression, nine business leaders sent out invitations to start a new club where businessmen could network and do public service, not unlike today’s Rotary or Kiwanis. The meetings would take place at breakfast, so it would be called The Early Birds Breakfast Club.

Fairmont Creamery was founded in Fairmont, Nebraska, in 1884. Farmers brought their milk to the plant to be separated and sold the butter fat, then took the skimmed milk home to feed hogs. Before refrigeration, milk didn’t last long. Fairmont began a series of groundbreaking innovations that changed dairying forever.

As a photographer who carries full-sized Nikon cameras, I've been looking for a small camera to carry around during my off-hours.

The story of Spokane's Pantages Theatre takes us to the Yukon and back.

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