This day in history: The Sheraton Hotel’s grand opening came with some post-Expo controversy

May 21, 2025 Updated Wed., May 21, 2025 at 12:02 p.m.

Charles Hedger, Spokane’s incoming commissioner of public safety, who had been rumored to be more sympathetic to bootleggers when he ran for office, warned that he would strictly enforce Prohibition and vice laws, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 21, 1925. The newspaper also reported that the Sprague Improvement Club announced that it would erect a monument at the site for the first bridge, called the Cowley Bridge, over the Spokane River and at the site where Col. George Wright ordered the slaughter of hundreds of tribal horses in 1858. (Spokesman-Review archives)

By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: The Sheraton-Spokane Hotel near Riverfront Park was, at long last, ready to open.

The hotel – today’s Doubletree by Hilton – had been the subject of controversy when it failed to be completed on time for Expo ’74. The original plan was for it to be a key Expo component, since it was adjacent to the fairgrounds and to the Washington State Pavilion, today’s Spokane Convention Center.

Yet it was not even close to ready by Expo’s opening, or even its closing.

Just before the fair’s opening, then-Gov. Dan Evans blasted the project, calling it “the symbol of a bad decision.” Instead of a convenient Expo accommodation, it would be a construction eyesore, right on the edge of a world’s fair with an environmental theme.

Now that it was completed, the hotel had nabbed three stars to perform in its Grand Opening weekend on June 27-29: Comedians Bob Hope and Lily Tomlin, and pianist Walt Wagner.

The hotel was calling it “the Flagship program for Spokane’s first Post-Expo summer.”

From 1925: Charles Hedger, Spokane’s incoming commissioner of public safety, warned that he would strictly enforce Prohibition and vice laws, and “the lid will not be tilted on gambling in Spokane.”

He promised that there would be “special privileges to none and discrimination against no one.”

When it came to enforcing Prohibition and gambling laws, he said, “there is no half-way course to follow.”

His statements were notable, because he had been called the “Wet” (anti-Prohibition candidate) during the election, although this was a charge he strongly denied.