This day in history: Spokane City Council meetings got their evening start, and a man with ‘advanced’ leprosy sought help here

From 1975: In “a surprise move,” the Spokane City Council agreed to conduct an experiment: nighttime council meetings.

Since 1960, council meetings had been held at 3:30 p.m. on Mondays. For many decades before that, council meetings were held five days a week at 9:30 a.m.

Now, however, a group called Citizens for Responsive Government was advocating for nighttime meetings, which would be more accessible for working people.

Mayor David H. Rodgers said it was worth a try, and the council approved a trial run of 7 p.m. meetings for the next eight Mondays.

The Spokesman-Review asked: “Will the public come to the meetings as proponents have said it would?”

The answer would turn out to be “yes,” as the council holds Monday evening meetings to this day.

From 1925: A 34-year-old man from Hawaii brought “leprosy in the advanced stages” into Spokane, county and city health officials said.

“The Hawaiian has been confined to a tent on the grounds of Rivercrest Hospital,” the Chronicle reported. “A guard has been placed near the tent to watch the leper day and night.“

A day earlier, the man had walked in and requested medical aid from the county physician. He had large ulcers on his feet, and his fingers were curled. He had “apparently been wandering around the United States for several years.”

Authorities said he would be taken to a federal confinement hospital and then to a leper colony in Hawaii.