Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years

Father Louis Taelman, president of Gonzaga College, delivered a talk about the school’s history as it neared its 25th anniversary.

He noted that it grew from 18 pupils in 1887 to 576 students in 1912.

He called the school a “Spokane institution” whose graduates had spread the fame of the city “from Edmonton, Alberta, in the north to Mexico in the south.”

He said the coursework was equal to any university, including Georgetown and Fordham. 

Meanwhile, the school was moving ahead. He said Gonzaga would soon establish a law school and an engineering school and change from Gonzaga College to Gonzaga University.

From the picnic beat: Spokane’s grocers and their families – 12,000 strong – held their annual picnic at Natatorium Park. 

Some of the field events had, fittingly, a food theme. There was an egg race, a potato race and an order-taking contest for clerks.

Among the other events: A married women’s race, a waltz contest, a women’s ball-throwing contest, a women’s tug-of-war and the “fat man’s race.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1862: Congress passed, and President Abraham Lincoln signed, a measure abolishing slavery in U.S. territories.