50 years ago in Expo history: Spokane Daily Chronicle staff weighed in on the fair’s monumental impact on the eve of its closing

The Spokane Daily Chronicle’s reporters and editors wrote about their “impressions of the world fair’s effects.”

Hazel Barnes said that, “For old-timers like me, it’s still hard to believe that something as wonderful as a world’s fair happened here.” At the Folklife Festival, she tried her hand at a potter’s wheel, learned intricate embroidery stitches and “how to decorate an Easter egg as the Ukrainians do.” Expo, she said, “brought the world to our doorstep.”

Jim Spoerhase wrote, “You looked at what seemed to be a mess of lumber and a mountain of confusion and you just knew that the fair wouldn’t open on time – but it did.”

Chuck Rehberg wrote, “The stage won’t be the same, nor will the people – Expo’s magic changed all that.”

Frank Bartel wrote, “The question is, having overcome so many hurdles to get Expo off the ground, can Spokane muster the financial strength and public commitment to finish the race?”

From 100 years ago: The Spokesman-Review of 1924 did not hesitate to make a presidential endorsement.

In fact, it’s ringing endorsement of Calvin Coolidge was bannered across the top of the front page of Sunday’s paper.

The unsigned editorial said, “La Follette can not be elected. … There is not a sound reason why the Coolidge administration should be overthrown and the country plunged into a long period of uncertainty, alarm and hesitation.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1783: General George Washington bids farewell to his army.