Then and Now: Fort George Wright

For 60 years, Spokane had a U.S. Army base that provided housing, training, recreation and medical care before it shut down.

Encouraged by Spokane supporters, a new base was established by the U.S. Congress in 1896 with the purchase of more than 1,000 acres. It opened in 1899, with many buildings added.

Bases were sometimes named after their location, but the War Department also favored naming them after distinguished soldiers in history. So it was named after the U.S. Army colonel who had vanquished local Native tribes in battle 35 years earlier. Wright’s force may have camped on or near the new fort during running skirmishes with local tribes.

Early in the 20th century, Fort George Wright was home to elements of the 4th Infantry Regiment. Starting in 1908, two infantry regiments of mounted “Buffalo Soldiers,” racially segregated units formed after the Civil War, were stationed at Fort Wright for a few years. Segregation was discontinued in 1950.

The fort was home to the Civilian Conservation Corps, a depression-era jobs program.

As World War II loomed, the fort became the headquarters of the Army Air Corps’ Northwest Air District, in charge of regional air defense, in 1941. This was several years before the U.S. Air Force was formed. Light aircraft sometimes landed on the grounds.

During the war years, movie star Clark Gable was at Fort Wright briefly to undergo aerial gunnery training.

Fort George Wright Hospital, a convalescent facility, was established in 1944 to rehabilitate injured service members.

The base, briefly named George Wright Air Force Base, was declared government surplus in 1957. An 85-acre parcel with historic buildings went to Holy Names College for women, run by the nuns of the Society of the Names of Jesus and Mary in 1961. The Holy Names order built a modern convent nearby in 1966.

Spokane Community College took most of the fort grounds in 1967 to build a new campus that would become Spokane Falls Community College. In 1970, SFCC and SCC became separate colleges under a common administration.

The Holy Names College enrollment declined and began hosting Japanese students from the Mukogawa Women’s University in Japan in 1986. The Mukogawa school bought the site in 1990.