This day in history: City hears alternative proposal for Riverfront Park development

From 1975: An alternative plan for developing Riverfront Park came to light – to the complete surprise of the Spokane City Council.

Robert P. Perron, a Portland landscape architect, had already been designing the new park for months under a contract with the city. But at a council meeting, Thomas Main, a Spokane advertiser, showed up and said he represented a group of Spokane people who had spent months developing their own alternative program for Riverfront Park.

He said their plan “would place greater emphasis on commercial development, similar to Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens, without additional cost to taxpayers.”

It would include space to lease to foreign countries for exhibits “showing the heritage of their contributions to the United States.”

Some council members noted that Perron had already held numerous neighborhood meetings to get residents’ input, and that Perron also understood the complex land -use issues involved.

At the end, the council voted to extend Perron’s contract.

From 1925: Spokane was proud to be, in the words of the Spokane Chronicle, “the greatest railway center in the Pacific Northwest states.”

The paper noted six transcontinental railways and 12 branch lines traversed Spokane.

A total of “58 freight trains and 128 passenger trains arrive and leave this city each day.” The paper said no city in the West “receives a greater freight tonnage.”

Rail traffic was booming all over the country, setting a new record in 1924.