Transported Back In Time Group Wants West Downtown Area Recognized For Its Historic Roots As Spokane’S Transportation Hub

The apartment buildings, shops and businesses on the west end of downtown Spokane along the railroad viaduct mostly go unnoticed by drivers rolling past in their cars. But the buildings were the featured attraction Thursday when state historic preservationists strolled First and Second avenues from Carnegie Square to the twin stacks of the Steam Plant.

They viewed the vintage district with different eyes: seeing a blacksmith shop, Melrose Hotel, Rasher-Klingman Carriage Company and Wells Chevrolet.

The historic district, which includes 63 buildings, is officially known as the West Downtown Historic Transportation Corridor.

The group studied the 1925 Wells Chevrolet showroom next to the train tracks, perhaps just as residents stopped 75 years years ago to watch new cars being unloaded from the railroad into the showroom.

Today the State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is expected to decide whether to recommend including the area on the National Register of Historic Places.

The only other downtown area on the national register is the Riverside Historic District.

“I want one of those cool, bronze plaques to bolt to the outside of my building,” said Dale DuPree, who owns Pella Windows in the transportation district. DuPree renovated his building on South Jefferson three years ago. The work inspired a little research. He discovered that his 1906 building was originally a store selling farm implements, tractors and threshers.

Inspired by the improvements Ron and Julie Wells and others have made around Carnegie Square, where blocks of shops and offices have opened, building owners along the historic railroad corridor are following in their tracks.

The area’s transportation legacy, from trains to carriages to cars, has been the unifying theme among the buildings for more than a century. Some call it Spokane’s original auto row.

During the 1920s, U.S. Highway 10 ran along First Avenue. Most of Spokane’s flourishing car dealerships sprouted along the highway.

But it was the arrival of the railroad in Spokane in the 1880s that was key to the district’s development. Single room occupancy hotels, which were common in Spokane around the turn of the century, grew up beside the tracks.

The compact hotels were usually three or four stories tall, and often had shops or businesses downstairs. The largest surviving collection of the hotels is located in the transportation district, along First Avenue. “Every time you cross the street, you get a good look at the railroad tracks,” said Janice Rutherford, a former historic preservation officer for Spokane city and county.

Rutherford’s public history class at Washington State University wrote the nomination for the transportation district. Class members surveyed the buildings, collected historical background, and wrote the 90-page nomination.

The advisory council includes architects and historians from throughout the state.

Allyson Brooks, with the state council, said there are several criteria to consider, including the setting, workmanship on the buildings and the integrity of the district.

“It’s great to see these wonderful buildings, and all the rehabilitation that has been going on, and the new uses that have been found for them,” she said.

Listing on the National Register of Historic Places imposes no controls on the building or restricts uses. However, if owners decide to renovate the buildings, they could be eligible for tax breaks.

Spokane’s recently adopted Downtown Spokane Plan encourages developing and renovating the west downtown district with a mix of retail, office and residential.

Map of area