Jim Kershner’s This day in history
From our archives, 75 years ago
The trolleys were still clanging in Spokane – but not for long.
The Spokane United Railways announced that two more streetcar lines – the East Sprague and East Fifth lines – were being replaced by bus routes.
Streetcars had ruled Spokane’s streets for almost 50 years, serving millions of riders a year in their heyday. But buses were cheaper to run, were more flexible and required no overhead wires.
One year later, the city’s last streetcar was retired. It was incinerated in a public ceremony near Natatorium Park.
From the homicide beat: Spokane police were on the hunt for an ex-con from Walla Walla believed responsible for the murder of a clerk at Manito Pharmacy earlier in the week.
A man fitting the same ex-con’s description robbed a Walla Walla pharmacy a few days later. He got away with the store’s entire supply of narcotics.
From the liquor beat: A local man was fined $25 for selling beer on a Sunday. Spokane (and most of the nation) still had a number of “blue laws,” which banned sales of many retail items – not just alcohol – on Sundays.
Also on this date
(From the Associated Press)
1492: Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on a voyage that took him to the present-day Americas.