This day in history: Swine flu fears spiked in Spokane after 15 deaths. Sketch of new cathedral revealed on frontpage of Chronicle

From 1976: At least 15 people had died of a flu outbreak in Spokane County, adding to fears that a “swine flu” epidemic had reached Spokane.

“The grim statistics, which follow an influenza epidemic, are evident even in Spokane,” said the county’s epidemiologist.

Public health officials throughout the U.S. were proposing a mass immunization campaign to combat the swine flu, which they feared might be as deadly as the so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19.

Dr. E.O. Ploeger, the county’s health officer, said the health district “faces a tremendous chore” if such a sweeping immunization plan were implemented.

“We haven’t got all the people immunized against polio yet,” he noted.

From 1926: An architect’s sketch on the front page of the Spokane Chronicle showed the proposed edifice which would soon “dominate the southern heights of Spokane.”

It was the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, which was in the early stages of planning at its imposing site on the South Hill.

The Chronicle noted that construction was set to begin in November, and predicted – optimistically – that the “nave and the ‘crossing’ ” would be completed a year after that.

The nave (where the congregation sits) would not be completed until October 1929. Then the Great Depression put a stop to further work until 1948. The rest of the building would not be complete until 1961.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1953: Dr. Jonas Salk announces that he has successfully tested a vaccine to prevent polio. Clinical trials begin the following year.