Historical contributor

In fewer than three years, historic preservation in Spokane Valley has evolved from a few individuals collecting bits of the Valley’s past that might otherwise have been thrown away to an ambitious museum with plans to add an entire one-room schoolhouse to its growing collection.

“It’s been really heartwarming to see the community support,” said museum curator Jayne Singleton.

While she spoke Thursday, she was putting away the last pieces of its successful exhibit on World War II before running to University City to pick up the few surviving Christmas decorations that adorned the Valley’s shopping center years ago.

Today the museum holds its second tea fundraiser where the museum will present its Heritage Preservation Award to Chuck King, a lifelong resident who started gathering Valley memorabilia long before anyone thought to create a museum for it.

“He’s been collecting and preserving Valley history items for more than 10 years,” Singleton said.

When excavation for the Valley Mall unearthed part of the original irrigation system that brought crops and settlers to the Valley 100 years ago, King picked pieces off the side of the road and reassembled it at his house.

“I can go down a road 100 times, and I’ll still be looking for something I didn’t see before,” King said.

His home became a refuge for Valley relics, such as the signs from drive-in theaters or the motor courts that lined the Valley back when Sprague was Highway 10.

King said he was surprised and happy to hear he won the award. While he’s always been a collector, he said one of the most rewarding parts of working with the museum has been the visitors recognizing people in pictures and artifacts from their past or bringing in photos of their own.

“It’s fulfilling when other people enjoy it,” he said.

Last year the first heritage award went to Florence Boutwell, a local author credited with compiling much of the historical information written about the Valley.

“I was very surprised, and I have it right beside my computer,” she said.

Boutwell served at the Velox naval supply depot, now the Industrial Park, during World War II. Afterward, she began freelancing for a local historical publication and taught for 19 years. In the 1980s, she began compiling documents and interviews on the Valley’s history as a hobby, and the first of her four books was published in 1994.

In March it will be three years since the newly formed city of Spokane Valley granted use of the abandoned Opportunity Township Hall to a small group of history buffs so the general public could view parts of the Valley’s heritage gathered by people like Boutwell and King.

“It’s been a real grassroots thing,” said volunteer Bill Crawford.

As another volunteer put it, the museum operates on what people come to the door and give it. Donations and a limited amount of money from the hotel tax keep the doors open and fund one, part-time position.

Initially, just making the community aware that there was a museum was a challenge, Crawford said.

“We’re a little bit more on the radar screen now,” Crawford said. Word of mouth has brought more people in, and this summer Crawford spent a couple months filling out paperwork to get a sign for the museum posted along I-90, he said.

Plans for next year include exhibits on the Valley’s contribution to building the Grand Coulee Dam, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the legacy of the Great Depression, aviation history including Felts Field, and another World War II exhibit, Singleton said.

There are also fundraisers in the works for Christmas and a drive-in movie night next summer.

Next spring the museum will begin raising money to move the Lone Fir school house from behind an RV dealership at Sprague and Progress two miles away to a space behind the museum.

“That’s coming along rather nicely,” Singleton said.

Since the building was donated by the business owners last summer, the museum has been working with an architect and applying for permits, she said.

Once the building is in place, Singleton and others envision field trips from local schools where students can spend part of their day, fountain pen in hand, experiencing class the way their great-grandparents might have.

That project has prompted several calls to the museum from people who attended the Lone Fir School, and other exhibits have regularly led more people to get involved or bring their own artifacts to the museum, volunteers said.

“It’s been quite amazing the things that have happened in a short amount of time and really with no budget,” Crawford said.