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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Hillyard: Hillyard voters reject plan to join Spokane

From our archives,

100 years ago

Hillyard voters soundly defeated a proposition for annexation to Spokane, by a vote of 573 to 252.

The anti-annexation crowd was so energized by the results that some of them decided to go out and taunt James Barr, the leader of the annexation movement. They went to Barr’s office and “tied a bow of crepe to his door and lit red fuses about the sidewalk.”

The newspaper said that “In the opinion of the anti-annexationists, the vote settles the question for good.”

They were wrong about that. In 1924, Hillyard would vote to become part of Spokane.

From the golf beat: The Spokane Country Club announced that it planned to expand to an 18-hole golf course over the next season.

It was currently a nine-hole course. Work on the second nine was to be started immediately, and would “give Spokane one of the best courses in the entire Northwest.”

From the prohibition beat: Liquor sales were booming in advance of the statewide prohibition on New Year’s Day.

“We have had a surprisingly large sale of whiskies to families, the purchases for the most part being in five- and 10-gallon kegs,” said Jimmie Durkin, Spokane’s famous liquor dealer and saloonkeeper. “Although, in some cases, we have sold whisky by the barrel to these private consumers.”