Nettleton’s Addition OK’d for national historic register

Nettleton’s Addition in Spokane’s West Central Neighborhood has become the city’s newest addition to the National Register of Historic Places.

With more than 900 homes and garages considered to be historically significant, Nettleton’s Addition Historic District is one of the largest national historic districts in Washington. Nearly 70 percent of its homes were built prior to 1910.

Nettleton’s Addition was listed on the state historic register last year. It is one of 18 locations in Spokane County listed on the national register.

The listing came about through the urging of the West Central Neighborhood Council, which used a portion of its federal community development funds to research the district history. Other grants were obtained. Diana Painter of Painter Planning and Preservation prepared the nomination paperwork for the district.

The district is bounded by Mission Avenue on the north, Chestnut Street on the east, Bridge Avenue on the south and A Street on the west.

Nettleton’s Addition is named for William Nettleton, a key figure in the westward expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which began operating through Spokane in 1883.

Nettleton moved to Spokane with the rail expansion after working to establish the eastern terminus for the Northern Pacific along Lake Superior in Minnesota, according to research for the nomination.

Nettleton collaborated with John Sherwood and William Pettet, co-founders of Washington Water Power Co., to develop streetcar lines into the neighborhood, and it was among the earliest streetcar suburbs catering to an emerging middle class in the early 1900s.

Nettleton moved into a home at 2605 W. Maxwell Ave. and died in 1905 in Spokane.

In other city business, the Spokane City Council on Monday approved a contract with Schimmels Construction of Spokane to build a sewer booster station in the West Drive area of the city at a cost of $495,000. The project is intended to alleviate sewer odor problems in the area.