This day in history: Spokane officials celebrated Ford’s transfer of U.S. Pavilion. Bethel AME members greeted national church leaders

From 1975: Nine months after the close of Expo ’74, federal officials formally transferred the iconic U.S. Pavilion to the city of Spokane in a brief ceremony.

Sen. Warren G. Magnuson was on hand to deliver a presidential proclamation commemorating the donation of the umbrella-domed pavilion and its four acres of land. Magnuson called the pavilion the “key” and “centerpiece” of Expo.

“Few cities in the world are blessed with as beautiful, clean and fast-flowing rivers as Spokane is, and for years you were trying to hide it,” Magnuson said. “And now, when so many cities are bogged down with gloom and doom, it is refreshing to come to Spokane with its ‘can do’ attitude.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Foley of Spokane also spoke, noting that when he first heard of the plans for Expo, he thought it was a “marvelous idea, but impractical.” He said the bill authorizing Expo required unanimous consent in the U.S. House, “something that is difficult to achieve, and requires some luck.”

That luck came when a an unnamed Congress member who “regularly objected to everything” was out of town.

From 1925: Spokane became “the national headquarters of the African Methodist Episcopal Church” – at least for 30 minutes.

The Rev. A.W. Johnson, pastor of Spokane’s Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, made that declaration after he and 20 other Spokane citizens “greeted the officials heads of the denomination on their way to Los Angeles to the national church meeting.”

The “distinguished colored people are traveling in a special train of two standard Pullmans, a diner and a baggage coach,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

The group stopped for only 30 minutes, but they met with the Spokane delegation, who gave them cherries, cookies from the Tru-Blue Biscuit Co. and a souvenir Spokane booklet.