History: Library Resources: Local Spokane eBooks

As early as the 1880s, Spokane was a destination for black settlers escaping the racial oppression in the South. Drawing on oral histories, interviews, newspapers, and other primary sources, Mack sets the stage for the years following World War II in the Inland Northwest, when an influx of black veterans would bring about a new era of racial issues. His book traces the earliest challenges faced by the NAACP and a small but sympathetic white population as Spokane became a significant part of the national civil rights struggle.

Spokane's history begins with the arrival of explorer David Thompson, who established the trading post Spokane House in 1810. From that period forward, the area teemed with Euro-American settlers who often mingled with the Native American population. Spokan Falls, officially incorporated in 1881, and by 1891 known simply as Spokane, became ground zero for the extractive industries of mining and logging and later a vast hub for the railroads. These factors led to the greatest boom in the city's history between the years 1900 and 1915. Spokane's growth came on the heels of an increase in the built environment that included the creation of parks, subdivisions, an expanded downtown business district, and an almost feverish movement to create some of Washington's most beautifully designed bridges. Because of this, Spokane has often been referred to as the "City of Bridges."

Carl Maxey was, in his own words, “a guy who started from scratch - black scratch.” He was sent, at age five, to the scandal-ridden Spokane Children's Home and then kicked out at age eleven with the only other “colored” orphan. Yet Maxey managed to make a national name for himself, first as an NCAA championship boxer at Gonzaga University, and then as eastern Washington's first prominent black lawyer and a renowned civil rights attorney who always fought for the underdog.

During the tumultuous civil rights and Vietnam War eras, Carl Maxey fought to break down color barriers in his hometown of Spokane and throughout the nation. As a defense lawyer, he made national headlines working on lurid murder cases and war-protest trials, including the notorious Seattle Seven trial. He even took his commitment to justice and antiwar causes to the political arena, running for the U.S. Senate against powerhouse senator Henry M. Jackson.

Established as a railroad section station on the Northern Pacific Railroad, Cheney boomed into existence as the Spokane County seat in 1880. The City of Cheney incorporated in 1883, and though its role as county seat was short-lived, Cheney long served as an agricultural and mercantile hub for the surrounding Palouse and scabland towns and farms. The rotary rod weeder was invented here and manufactured by the Cheney Weeder Company to be shipped all over the country and the world. The most enduring legacy of the pioneers was Eastern Washington University, beginning as the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in 1882 with a donation from the town's namesake. In 1891, it became Washington's first normal school for the training of teachers. Growing and diversifying, the university now has a student body of over 10,000.

Spokane Falls, known as the Capital of the Inland Empire, was named after the Spokane Indians and the picturesque falls. In 1891, the name was changed to Spokane. The town thrived as a result of the abundant waters of the Spokane River, which powered saw and grain mills, and lured major transcontinental railways to Spokane in 1881. In 1889, a fire destroyed the downtown area, but like a forest after a fire, the town enjoyed growth and resurgence soon after. Spokane would attract people as diverse as Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, Calamity Jane, Billy Sunday, and Charles Lindbergh. Easterners found that its four seasons and profusion of scenic city parks gave them a place to ensure their destiny.

Spokane is brimming with haunted buildings and shades reluctant to leave their beloved city. Patsy and Mary Clark have refused to leave their glorious mansion even after their passing, and the ghost of Ellen, who plunged to her death from a skylight in 1920, still whispers to current guests at the extravagant Davenport Hotel. In Greenwood Cemetery, a set of haunted stairs attracts visitors who come to see if the spirits will prevent them from reaching the top. Join author Deborah Cuyle as she explores the Lilac City's haunted landmarks and the colorful stories of its former residents.

Col. George Wright's campaign against the Yakima, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Palouse, and other Indian peoples of eastern Washington Territory was intended to punish them for a recent attack on another U.S. Army force. Wright had once appeared to respect the Indians of the Upper Columbia Plateau, but in 1858 he led a brief war noted for its violence, bloodshed, and summary trials and executions. Today, many critics view his actions as war crimes, but among white settlers and politicians of the time, Wright was a patriotic hero who helped open the Inland Northwest to settlement. “Hang Them All” offers a comprehensive account of Wright's campaigns and explores the controversy surrounding his legacy. Over thirty days, Wright's forces defeated a confederation of Plateau warriors in two battles, destroyed their food supplies, slaughtered animals, burned villages, took hostages, and ordered the hanging of sixteen prisoners. Seeking the reasons for Wright's turn toward mercilessness, Cutler asks hard questions: If Wright believed he was limiting further bloodshed, why were his executions so gruesomely theatrical and cruel? How did he justify destroying food supplies and villages and killing hundreds of horses? Was Wright more violent than his contemporaries, or did his actions reflect a broader policy of taking Indian lands and destroying Native cultures? Stripped of most of their territory, the Plateau tribes nonetheless survived and preserved their cultures. With Wright's reputation called into doubt, some northwesterners question whether an army fort and other places in the region should be named for him. Do historically based names honor an undeserving murderer, or prompt a valuable history lesson? In examining contemporary and present-day treatments of Wright and the incident, “Hang Them All” adds an important, informed voice to this continuing debate.

While known as the home of Father's Day, Spokane benefited from its share of trailblazing women. In 1886, Mother Joseph, a pioneering architect, constructed the first Sacred Heart Hospital. After fire destroyed thirty-six blocks in 1889, Anna Stratton Browne and her friends raised $10,000 to build a home for needy children that operated for six decades. And in early 1908, May Hutton became president of the Spokane Equal Suffrage League, persevering until 1910, when Washington voters gave women the vote. Historian Nancy Driscol Engle commemorates the unforgettable contributions of Spokane's women.

Rarely recognized outside its boundaries today, the Pacific Northwest region known at the turn of the century as the Inland Empire included portions of the states of Washington and Idaho, as well as British Columbia. Katherine G. Morrissey traces the history of this self-proclaimed region from its origins through its heyday. In doing so, she challenges the characterization of regions as fixed places defined by their geography, economy, and demographics. Regions, she argues, are best understood as mental constructs, internally defined through conflicts and debates among different groups of people seeking to control a particular area's identity and direction. She tells the story of the Inland Empire as a complex narrative of competing perceptions and interests.

The last half of the 19th century was typified by tycoons and shrewd railroad barons. A key figure in the development of the Spokane International Railway was James Jerome Hill, or simply Jim Hill. Spokane businessmen regarded Hill as a tyrant and considered his Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads unwelcome monopolies in Northeast Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. In 1905, Daniel Chase'D.C.'Corbin broke the Hill lines'stronghold by forming the Spokane International Railway as a 140-mile rail line from Spokane, Washington, to Eastport, Idaho, to interchange traffic from the Canadian border to the Pacific. Today, the route continues to be profitable under Union Pacific Railroad ownership with commodities shipped to Western markets via the Canadian Pacific Railway. This book shares the story of the Spokane International Railway and traces its international and local connections with every major railroad in the Pacific Northwest.

From Lake Coeur d Alene to its confluence with the Columbia, the Spokane River travels 111 miles of varied and often spectacular terrain rural, urban, in places wild. The river has been a trading and gathering place for Native peoples for thousands of years. With bountiful trout, accessible swimming holes, and challenging rapids it is a recreational mecca for residents and tourists alike. The Spokane also bears the legacy of industrial growth and remains caught amid interests competing over natural resources.

The contributors to this collection profile this living river through personal reflection, history, science, and poetry. They bring a keen environmental awareness of resource scarcity, climate change, and cultural survival tied to the river's fate.

Walking Washington’s History: Ten Cities, a follow-up to Judy Bentley’s bestselling Hiking Washington’s History, showcases the state’s engaging urban history through guided walks in ten major cities. Using narrated walks, maps, and historic photographs, Bentley reveals each city’s aspirations.

She begins in Vancouver, established as a fur trade emporium on a plain above the Columbia River, and ends with Bellevue, a bedroom community turned edge city. In between, readers crisscross the state, with walks through urban Olympia, Walla Walla, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Bellingham, Yakima, and Spokane.

Whether readers pass through these cities as tourists or set out to explore their home terrain, they will discover both the visible and invisible markers of Washington history underfoot.