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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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This day in history: Carrousel reopened for fundraiser in Riverfront Park. LA detective arrived in Spokane to investigate suitcase bomb

Mrs. Lee Leary reached for a ring while riding the Looff Carrousel at Riverfront Park in May 1975 at a fundraiser for the Spokane Art School. The picture ran on the frontpage of The Spokesman-Review on May 7, 1975. (Spokesman-Review archives)
Mrs. Lee Leary reached for a ring while riding the Looff Carrousel at Riverfront Park in May 1975 at a fundraiser for the Spokane Art School. The picture ran on the frontpage of The Spokesman-Review on May 7, 1975. (Spokesman-Review archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: The big day finally came for “Spokane’s delightful old merry-go-round” (aka the Looff Carrousel).

“For seven years, Spokane citizens have worried, fretted and pampered the old carrousel, agonizing over its renovation and waiting for its debut,” The Spokesman-Review said. “… It was a happy, mostly over 40, carnival-like crowd which attended the champagne preview.”

The carrousel was a Spokane favorite for decades at the old Natatorium Park until it was declared “surplus” after the park’s closure.

Now, the carrousel had been renovated and rebuilt in its new home, “a $180,000 structure designed specifically to its requirements and located on the former Expo grounds.”

“The memories flooded back as 18 tons of machinery churned into motion and the 87-key Artisan Band Organ, built in Germany in 1896, um-pahed through ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ and ‘Rosie O’Grady.’ ”

Los Angeles Police Lt. M. Williams arrived in Spokane to investigate the suitcase bomb that had been opened earlier in the week at Spokane’s Masonic Temple, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 7, 1925. The newspaper also interviewed the Rev. Charles F. Koehler of Knox Presbyterian Church, who attributed a decline in donations to the Presbyterian Church of the United States to the “fundamentalist-modernist controversy.” Dr. Florence R. Sabin’s picture was in the edition to note that she had become the first woman elected to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences. (Spokesman-Review archives)
Los Angeles Police Lt. M. Williams arrived in Spokane to investigate the suitcase bomb that had been opened earlier in the week at Spokane’s Masonic Temple, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 7, 1925. The newspaper also interviewed the Rev. Charles F. Koehler of Knox Presbyterian Church, who attributed a decline in donations to the Presbyterian Church of the United States to the “fundamentalist-modernist controversy.” Dr. Florence R. Sabin’s picture was in the edition to note that she had become the first woman elected to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences. (Spokesman-Review archives)

From 1925: The suitcase-bomb mystery at Spokane’s Masonic Temple remained unsolved, although a Los Angeles police detective arrived in Spokane to look into the case.

The bomb, packed with explosives and shotgun pellets, failed to detonate. The suitcase had been shipped from Los Angeles, and L.A. police were checking the neighborhood from which it was shipped.

In addition, some fingerprints were found on the bomb. Experts were attempting to identify them, so far without success.

Both Spokane and Los Angeles investigators said they believed the bomb “was the work of someone with a grudge against the local chapter.”