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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Howard Street Bridge

You have to be "of a certain age" to remember riding across the Spokane River on the Howard Street Bridge because it became pedestrian-only for Expo '74.

Section:Then & Now

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Image Two Colin Mulvany | The Spokesman-Review

Then and Now: Howard Street Bridge

You have to be "of a certain age" to remember riding across the Spokane River on the Howard Street Bridge because it became pedestrian-only for Expo '74.

But for most of a century, traffic would pass over the series of three bridges dubbed the Howard, Havermale and Washington, bringing shoppers and workers downtown from the Nnorth side of Spokane. The traffic passed under the elevated trestle that brought trains to the Milwaukee Road and Union Pacific depot.

The cars bumped across the tracks near the Great Northern depot. Of that structure, only the Riverfront Park Clocktower remains. Opening in 1881, the Howard Street bridges were the first span across the river in Spokane, followed quickly by the f rickety wooden Monroe Street bridge. Before the Howard Street project, crossing the river meant fording it in a shallow spot or going to Antoine Plante's ferry landing and pulling yourself across the river with a rope. 

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