100 years ago in Spokane: A home for unwed mothers was coming to the Cannon Hill district, despite a long list of arguments against it from residents

Homeowners in the lower Cannon Hill district were unanimous: They did not want the Florence Crittenton Home (for unwed mothers) in their neighborhood.

They “advanced almost every conceivable argument in opposition.”

Those included:

• There was too much traffic passing by, and “the girls would be subjected to publicity and curious stares, which would be embarrassing.”
• An unwillingness to raise a family “in the vicinity of such an institution.”
• It should be “in a more sparsely settled community.”
• The upkeep would be too expensive.
• The home should be on a more spacious suburban plot, “where gardens might provide healthful food during the summer and where the girls might exercise without being subject to the curious gaze of the public.”

These arguments were all for naught. The institution’s board voted to purchase the large building at Fifth Avenue and Adams Street and convert it into a hospital and residence for unwed mothers.

L.W. Hutton, one of the board members, was confident the home would prove to be a “quiet and most inoffensive sort of place.” He said he would be perfectly happy to have the home right next to his own.

Also on this day

(from onthisday.com)

1887: Oregon is the first state to make Labor Day a holiday.

1965: Civil rights activist and Muslim minister Malcolm X is shot dead by Nation of Islam followers at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.