Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The employees of three Spokane department stores received an excellent Christmas present: a full week of extra pay.

The management of the Spokane Dry Goods Co., which owned the Crescent, the Palace and the Spokane Dry Goods store, said this was the 16th consecutive year they had given this bonus.

“It is a feature in which we take both pleasure and pride, and is, we believe, more appreciated by our employees than almost anything else we do,” the secretary-treasurer said. “Needless to say, it is a permanent feature.”

He said there was economic “pessimism in the air and a good deal of business uncertainty,” but so far, the stores’ 1914 holiday business had been “satisfactory, indeed.”

From the real estate beat: L.W. Hutton, pioneer mining man, purchased the Fernwell Building, on the southwest corner of Riverside Avenue and Stevens Street, for $275,000.

It was “one of the largest cash sales in the history of the city.” 

Hutton said his investment “shows my faith in Spokane and my confidence in its future.” He said he planned to build a new 14-story building on the site.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1944: During World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.