This day in history: Committee picked West Plains water as Spokane region’s top priority over Riverfront Park

From 1975: A committee met to choose the region’s No. 1 priority for federal funding, and Riverfront Park lost to a more urgent need.

The Spokane County Over-all Economic Development Planning committee chose a new water system for the “arid area west of Spokane.”

The proposed system would deliver water to the towns of Cheney and Medical Lake, and would eventually serve the Four Lakes community and Airway Heights.

“It will be possible to develop a vast area west of the city when water is available,” the Spokane County engineer said.

Coming in second was a proposal to turn the former U.S. Pavilion in Riverfront Park into a “Circus Pavilion,” at a cost of $4.9 million.

From 1925: A long-sought improvement in the region’s postal delivery was assured when the U.S. Post Office announced a new air mail route from Elko, Nevada, to Pasco.

Local authorities had been lobbying for this route for months, since it would cut 48 hours off of East Coast mail delivery to Spokane and Eastern Washington. A westbound plane from New York arrived at Elko every day just after noon.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1896: Henry Ford takes his first Ford through streets of Detroit.

1940: British complete the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats.

1944: Gen. Dwight Eisenhower reschedules D-Day invasion after receiving unfavorable weather reports.