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

100 years ago in Spokane: Chamber calls for store closures on Armistice Day

“The greater the enthusiasm we can show the boys who fought this war for us, the more they will know they appreciate what they did,” said the chairman of the chamber’s retail trades bureau. (Spokane Daily Chronicle archives)

Nov. 11 was declared a new holiday, Armistice Day, in commemoration of the end of World War I one year earlier.

The Spokane Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution at its luncheon meeting calling for all stores to close for a full day, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

“The greater the enthusiasm we can show the boys who fought this war for us, the more they will know they appreciate what they did,” said the chairman of the chamber’s retail trades bureau.

A huge parade was also in the planning stages for downtown Spokane.

Armistice Day would later evolve into Veterans Day.

From the economic beat: Hundreds of stockmen were in Spokane for the Western Royal Livestock Show, and the event prompted several prominent men to make a prediction: Spokane’s future was in livestock, surpassing even mining, lumber, farming or manufacturing.

One speaker at a luncheon said Spokane’s livestock trade was already at the $2 million mark per month, the Chronicle reported.

“I have seen communities far less favored than this develop a livestock industry of great proportions, and you may expect to see your business grow to a monthly turnover of $10 million,” he said.

Spokane did in fact develop a thriving livestock industry over the next decades, although it would be a stretch to say that it surpassed all other sectors.