Cheney, Medical Lake, Airway Heights a nearby escape from the big city

If city living isn’t for you, worry not – look just west of Spokane along the so-called West Plains and you’ll find a small nest of communities, each more different than the one before.

There’s Cheney, with its signature “college town” look and feel, Medical Lake, with its scenic views and the home of eastern Washington’s only psychiatric hospital, and Airway Heights, a city that bears its name from the neighboring Air Force base and airport.

Some have history dating back to the birth of Spokane County. Others are younger than our President. Yet all fit the bill of a remote small town, just without the hours-long commute that’s sometimes necessary to escape the hustle and bustle.

Cheney

When thousands of students descend upon Cheney each fall, it’s easy to see how big of a role Eastern Washington University plays.

For about nine months of the year, Cheney, which is south and west of Spokane, is a college town. Apartment buildings are full. The bars downtown are raucous. Parking is tough along the many residential and hilly roads leading to and from the school.

“The town very much is a university town,” said Cheney’s longtime mayor Tom Truelove. “Our seasons and our pace is really influenced by the school.”

For the other three months, and during school breaks, Cheney looks and feels like a small town. It has an old and scenic downtown core with local retail shops. It has a few grocery stores, but no major retail outlets. It even has its own police, fire and utility services. And it’s far enough away from Spokane to feel remote.

Though it was the county seat for a few years in the late 1800s, Cheney hasn’t ballooned in population like its neighbor, instead growing slowly over the years. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Cheney’s 2016 population was about 12,000. That means there’s plenty of room for land and houses, which many residents have taken advantage of with multi-acre plots spanning the many country roads heading into and out of town.

But because its population is mostly students for most of the year, Cheney’s rental market is remarkably similar to Spokane’s in price, but different in availability. Places can be hard to find the closer it gets to fall, but then units empty quickly as summer approaches.

Medical Lake

It’s nearly impossible to visit Medical Lake without stumbling upon the four nearby scenic waterholes, including the one in which the town gets its name.

Word has it, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, who had long inhabited the area, believed the water and mud from the lake had restorative properties. Then in the late 19th century, Andrew Lefevre, a failed French Canadian gold prospector, found his horses and sheep drinking from the lake and after bathing in it himself, found his rheumatism felt better and his sheep no longer had scabies. The name followed.

Today, the lake doesn’t share the same tall tales, but it does draw in hundreds of visitors each summer who camp along its banks and take a dip to cool off. Some stick around, adding to the town’s roughly 5,000 residents who enjoy the positives of rural living while only being about a 10-minute drive from downtown Spokane.

“We have fishing, hunting, boating, you name it,” said John Higgins, Medical Lake’s mayor of 12 years and a lifelong resident. “And we have four seasons. That helps.”

Nestled between Medical Lake and West Medical Lake is Eastern State Hospital, one of the town’s largest employers and eastern Washington’s only psychiatric hospital.

According to census data, the town’s population has plateaued at about 5,000. Doug Ross, city administrator, said that’s probably for the best because the Grande Ronde Aquifer, where Medical Lake draws its water along with many other towns south of Spokane, can’t support much more than what’s being drawn.

“Water is a precious commodity out here on the West Plains,” he said. “There’s not going to be 500 new homes built because we just don’t have the water supply to support it. That doesn’t sit well for some people. But others like the size.”

Airway Heights

Home to the Airway Heights Corrections Center, Northern Quest Resort & Casino, Spokane County Raceway and neighboring Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport, Airway Heights is a land of many things.

On one hand, it has the tell-tale signs of an up-and-coming city, with new retail stores and housing. On the other, it’s still small and secluded enough to have its own distinct flair, despite U.S. Highway 2 running through the middle of it.

Its steady growth in population has been spurred by the aforementioned employers and industries, which has drawn thousands of people and propelled development with multiple apartment buildings and houses being constructed over the years. Since 1990, the city’s population has exploded from about 2,000 to about 6,500, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just west of town is the region’s largest Air Force base, which draws in hundreds of people every day who drive through Airway Heights to work. Around town, and in Medical Lake and Cheney, are many retired veterans who’ve settled close to the base for access to its tax-free prices.

But even with all of that growth, Airway Heights remains small in some large ways. It shares a school district with Cheney, with all of the middle schoolers and high schoolers traveling 13 miles south for class. The elementary kids attend Sunset Elementary, part of the Cheney School District, but located in Airway Heights.

And while it has a Walmart Supercenter along U.S. Highway 2, the town’s residents covet the things that makes Airway Heights unique.

“There’s a perception more so that Highway 2 and the casino are Airway Heights, and that’s good, it helps our community,” said Andy Gardner, a lifelong resident who now works for the city’s parks and recreation department. “But we have a community full of people who care and work to make this place better. I think that is what makes us who we are.”