Spokane is a city located in the
Northwestern United StatesThe Northwestern United States comprise the northwestern states up to the western Great Plains regions of the United States, and consistently include the states of Oregon and Washington, to which Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Southeast Alaska, and parts of Northern California are sometimes added...
in the state of
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
. It is the largest city and
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of Spokane County, as well as the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region. The city is located on the
Spokane RiverThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
in
Eastern WashingtonEastern Washington is a region of the United States defined as the part of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains. It is notable for, among other things:*Central Washington University*The Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam...
, 110 miles (180 km) south of the Canadian border, approximately from the Washington-
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
border, and east of Seattle.
Canadian
David ThompsonDavid Thompson born Dafydd ap Thomas, was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
explored the Spokane area and began European settlement with the westward expansion and establishment of the
North West CompanyThe North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
’s
Spokane HouseSpokane House was a fur trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company under direction of David Thompson. The post was sited on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. Today this site is in the U.S...
in 1810. This trading post was the first long-term European settlement in Washington and the center of the fur trade between the
RockiesThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
and the Cascades for 16 years. In the late 1800s, gold and silver were discovered in the Inland Northwest. The Spokane area is considered to be one of the most productive mining districts in North America. Spokane’s economy has traditionally been natural resource based, however, the city’s economy has diversified to encompass other industries, including the high-tech and biotech sectors.
The city of Spokane (then known as "Spokane Falls") was settled in 1871 and officially incorporated as a city in 1881. The city's name is drawn from the Native American tribe known as the
SpokaneThe Spokane are a Native American people in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Washington. The Spokane Indian Reservation is located in eastern Washington, almost entirely in Stevens County, but includes two very small parcels of land and part of the Spokane River in northeastern...
, which means "Children of the Sun" in Salish. The name is often mispronounced "Spo-CAIN", while the correct pronunciation is "Spo-CAN". Spokane's official nickname is the "
LilacSyringa is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering plants in the olive family , native to Europe and Asia.They are deciduous shrubs or small trees, ranging in size from 2–10 m tall, with stems up to 20–30 cm diameter...
City", named after the flowers that have flourished since their introduction to the area in the early 20th century. Completion of the
Northern Pacific RailwayThe Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the north-central region of the United States. The railroad served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the company had...
in 1881 brought major settlement to the Spokane area.
With a population of 202,319 as of 2008, Spokane is the second largest city in Washington, and the fifth largest in the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America, bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west. There are several partially overlapping definitions of the region, but they generally include the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and...
, behind Seattle;
Vancouver,Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The city is bounded by English Bay, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands. Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a...
BCBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
;
Portland,Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
; and
Boise,Boise is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Idaho. Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho as well as the county seat of Ada County...
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
; and slightly larger than
TacomaTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park...
. Spokane is the principal city of the Spokane
Metropolitan Statistical AreaIn the United States, the Office of Management and Budget has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas. These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" . An earlier version of the MSA was the "Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area" . MSAs are...
, which is coterminous with
Spokane CountySpokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington, named after the Spokane tribe. As of the 2000 census the population was 417,939, and estimated at 462,677 in 2008, making it the fourth most populous county in Washington state...
. As of 2008, the county had a population of 462,677.
Directly east of Spokane County is the
Coeur d'AleneCoeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 34,514...
Metropolitan Statistical Area, comprised entirely of
Kootenai CountyKootenai County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. The county was established in 1864, named after Kootenai tribe. The entire county comprises the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 108,685 at the 2000 census; it was estimated at 137,475 in 2008...
,
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
; the combined population of the two counties was estimated at 600,152 in 2008, fourth largest in the Pacific Northwest behind Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, Canada.
History
The first humans to live in the Spokane area arrived between twelve to eight thousand years ago and were
hunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either...
societies that lived off the plentiful game in the area. Over time the forests in the area began to thin out and the Native Americans became more dependent upon roots, berries and fish. The
SpokaneThe Spokane are a Native American people in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Washington. The Spokane Indian Reservation is located in eastern Washington, almost entirely in Stevens County, but includes two very small parcels of land and part of the Spokane River in northeastern...
tribe, after which the city is named, are believed to be either direct descendants of the original hunter-gatherers that settled in the region, or descendants of tribes from the
Great PlainsThe Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
. When asked, by early white explorers, the tribe said their ancestors came from "Up North". The Spokane Falls were the tribe's center of trade and fishing.
Early in the 19th century, the Northwest Fur Company sent two white fur trappers west of the
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
to search for fur. The trappers became the first two white men met by the Spokane tribe, who believed them to be
Sama, or sacred, and set the trappers up in the
Colville RiverThe Colville River is a 60 mile long tributary of the Columbia River in northeastern Washington in the United States.-Course:The Colville River begins in southern Stevens County, Washington at the confluence of Sheep Creek and Deer Creek. It flows northwest past Colville and into the Columbia...
valley for the winter. The tribe discovered the men brought no "big magic" to the tribe as their members had continued to die from small pox, which had first struck the tribe in an epidemic in 1782 and wiped out as much as half the tribe's pre-epidemic numbers.
Trading post
The Inland Northwest was first explored by Canadian explorer-geographer
David ThompsonDavid Thompson born Dafydd ap Thomas, was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
, working as head of the
North West CompanyThe North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
's Columbia Department. Crossing what is now the U.S.–Canadian border from
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
, Thompson wanted to expand the North West Company further south in search of furs, primarily beaver. After establishing the
Kullyspell HouseKullyspell House was a fur trading post established in 1809 on Lake Pend Oreille in what is now North Idaho...
and
Saleesh HouseSaleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a North West Company fur trading post built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company. It became a Hudson's Bay Company post after that company absorbed the North West Company....
trading posts in what is now Idaho and
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Thompson wanted to expand further west. In 1810, Thompson sent out trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald to the Spokane River to build a trading post in eastern Washington that would exchange with the local Spokane and Colville Indians.
At the nexus of the
Little SpokaneThe Little Spokane River is a major tributary of the Spokane River, approximately 35 mi long, in eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a rural area of forested foothills and a farming valley north of the city of Spokane along the Idaho-Washington border.It rises in southern Pend...
and
SpokaneThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
, Finlay and McDonald built a new
fur trading postThe fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur.-Russian fur trade:Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur-pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Fur was a major Russian export as trade developed in the early Middle...
, which was the first long-term European settlement in Washington state. This trading post known as the
Spokane HouseSpokane House was a fur trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company under direction of David Thompson. The post was sited on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. Today this site is in the U.S...
, or simply "Spokane", was in operation from 1810 to 1826. The Spokane House, operated by the British North West Company and, later, the
Hudson's Bay CompanyThe Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world...
, was the center of the fur trade between the Rockies and the Cascades for 16 years. When the Hudson's Bay Company absorbed the North West Company in 1821, operations at Spokane House eventually shifted to
Fort ColvilleThe trade center Fort Colville was built by the Hudson's Bay Company at Kettle Falls on the Columbia River, a few miles west of the present site of Colville, Washington in 1825, to replace Spokane House as a regional trading center, as the latter was deemed to be too far from the Columbia River...
; afterward the company still remained active near Spokane.
American settlement
Joint American–British occupation of
Oregon CountryOregon Country or Oregon was a predominantly American term referring to a region of the Pacific Northwest of North America...
, in effect since the
Treaty of 1818The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary, and the restoration of slaves between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, was a...
, ended with the signing of the
Oregon TreatyThe Oregon Treaty, is a treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to the Oregon Country, which...
in 1846. The first American settlers, squatters J.J. Downing and S.R. Scranton, built a cabin and established a claim at Spokane Falls in 1871. Together they built a small sawmill on a claim near the south bank of the Spokane Falls.
James N. GloverJames Nettle Glover is considered the founding father of Spokane, Washington. In 1871 two squatters, James Downing and Seth Scranton, had built a sawmill at the south bank of the Spokane Falls on the Spokane River. Glover and his partner Jasper N...
and Jasper Matheney,
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
ians passing through the region in 1873, recognized the value of the Spokane River and its falls. They realized the investment potential and bought the claims of and the sawmill from Downing and Scranton for a total of $4,000. Glover and Matheney knew that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company had received a government charter to build a main line across this northern route. Glover later became known as the "Father of Spokane".
On October 21, 1880, Camp Spokane was established by U.S. Army troops under Lt. Col. Henry Clay Merriam at a location northwest of Spokane at the junction of the Columbia and Spokane Rivers. The camp location was strategic, having the intended goals of protecting construction of the Northern Pacific Railway and securing a place for U.S. settlement.
By 1881, the
Northern Pacific RailwayThe Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the north-central region of the United States. The railroad served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the company had...
was completed, bringing major European settlement to the area. The city of Spokan Falls (the "e" was added in 1883 and "Falls" dropped in 1891) was officially incorporated as a city of about 1,000 residents in 1881. Glover became the founder and "Father of Spokane". The city's population ballooned to 19,922 in 1890, and 36,848 in 1900 with the arrival of the railroads. The railroad lured settlers from as far away as
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and as close as
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
and the Dakotas. By 1910, the population hit 104,000; the building of the Northern Pacific, allowed Spokane to eclipse
Walla WallaWalla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 29,686 at the 2000 census and 31,350 from the 2008 estimate of the Washington State Office of Financial Management...
as the commercial center of the Inland Northwest.
Spokane's growth continued unabated until August 4, 1889, when a fire, now known as The Great Fire, began shortly after 6:00 p.m. and destroyed the city's downtown commercial district. Due to technical problems with a pump station, there was no water pressure in the city when the fire started. In an effort to impede the fire's growth, firefighters began demolishing buildings with dynamite. The fire continued despite this as the flames leaped over the cleared spaces and created their own firestorm. When volunteer firefighters attempted to quench the flames, they found their hoses were unusable. Eventually winds died down and the fire exhausted of its own accord. In the fires' aftermath, 32 blocks of Spokane's downtown were destroyed and one person was killed.
While the damage caused by the fire was a devastating blow, Spokane continued to grow; the fire set the stage for a dramatic building boom. After The Great Fire of 1889 and the rebuilding of the downtown, the city was reincorporated under the present name of "Spokane" in 1891. Just three years after the fire, in 1892,
James J. HillJames Jerome Hill , was a noted Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...
's Great Northern Railway had arrived in the newly created township of
HillyardHillyard, Washington was a town in Spokane County, Washington which existed as a separate town between 1892 and 1924.The town came about due to the Great Northern Railway and was named for James J. Hill, then-head of the railroad. Between 1904 and 1912, many of the town's houses were built, to...
(annexed by Spokane in 1924)—the chosen site for Hill's rail yards, machine shops, and roundhouse because of the area's flat ground. The railroads in Spokane made it a transportation hub for the Inland Northwest region. Spokane became an important rail and shipping center because of its location between mining and farming areas. After the arrival of the Northern Pacific, the
Union PacificThe Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest and oldest operating railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
, Great Northern, and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific railroads, Spokane became one of the most important rail centers in the western United States.
20th century
The expansion and growth of Spokane abruptly stopped in the 1910s and was followed by a period of population decline. Spokane's slowing economy largely contributed to this decline. Control of regional mines and resources became increasingly dominated by national corporations rather than locals, diverting capital outside of Spokane and decreasing growth and investment opportunities in the city. The 1920s and 1930s saw similar, but less drastic slow growth, also due to economic factors. The Inland Northwest region was heavily dependent on extractive products produced from farms, forests, and mines which experienced a fall in demand. Spokane's situation improved with the start of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as aluminum production was initiated in the Spokane valley due to the area's inexpensive electricity and the increased demand for airplanes.
After decades of stagnation and slow growth, Spokane businessmen, headed by King Cole, formed Spokane Unlimited, an organization that sought to revitalize downtown Spokane. Early but modest success came in the form of a new parking garage in 1965. Soon, efforts to revitalize the economy focused on improving Havermale Island in downtown Spokane, which was dominated by railroad depots and warehouses. A recreation park showcasing the Spokane falls was the preferred option, and the organization successfully negotiated with the railroad companies to free up the island property and relocate their rail lines. In the 1970s, Spokane was approaching its one-hundredth birthday, and Spokane Unlimited hired a private firm to start preparations for a celebration and fair. In a report delivered by the firm, the proposal of a world's fair was introduced, which culminated in
Expo '74Expo '74 was an environmentally themed world's fair in Spokane, Washington that ran from 4 May to 3 November 1974.Spokane was the smallest city to host a world's fair until Knoxville, Tennessee held the 1982 World's Fair eight years later...
.
Spokane hosted the first
environmentallyEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
themed World's Fair in Expo '74, becoming the smallest city yet to host a World's Fair. Expo '74 also had the distinction of being the first American fair after World War II to be attended by the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. This event transformed Spokane's downtown, removing a century of railroad industry that built the city and reinvented the urban core. After Expo '74, the fairgrounds became the Riverfront Park. The late 1970s was a period of growth for Spokane which led to the construction in the early 1980s of the two tallest buildings in the city, the 18-story Farm Credit Banks Building and the 20-story Seafirst Financial Center, now the Bank of America building.
The success seen in the late 1970s and early 1980s once again was interrupted by another U.S. recession in which silver, timber, and farm prices dropped. Although a tough period, Spokane's economy had begun to benefit from economic diversification, being the home to growing companies such as
Key TronicKey Tronic is a computer equipment manufacturer founded in 1969. Its core product group includes keyboards, mice and other input devices. They are considered to be one of the pioneers in ergonomic keyboard design...
and having research, marketing, and assembly plants for other technology companies helped lessen Spokane's dependency on natural resources.
Topography
Spokane is located on the
Spokane RiverThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
in
Eastern WashingtonEastern Washington is a region of the United States defined as the part of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains. It is notable for, among other things:*Central Washington University*The Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam...
, near the eastern border of Washington, about from
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
, south of the Canadian border, east of Seattle, and southwest of
CalgaryCalgary is the largest city in the Province of Alberta, Canada.The Calgary census metropolitan area is the third most diverse in Canada in terms of visible minorities after Toronto and Vancouver when considering only CMAs with population greater than 200,000...
. Spokane is part of the Inland Northwest region, consisting of eastern Washington, northern
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
, western
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, and northeastern
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.
Spokane lies on the eastern edge of the
Columbia BasinThe Columbia Basin, the drainage basin of the Columbia River, occupies a large area–about 673,396 square kilometres —of the Pacific Northwest region of North America...
steppeIn physical geography, a steppe is a biome region characterised by grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude...
, a wide sloping plain that rises sharply to the east towards the forested
Rocky MountainThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
foothillsFoothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in hilly areas at the base of a mountain range. They are generally larger than hills, but not as tall as nearby mountains...
, the
Selkirk MountainsThe Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia. They begin at Mica Peak near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and extend approximately 320 km north from the border. The range is bounded on its west,...
. The city lies in a transition area between the desert-like Columbia Basin of central Washington and the forested mountains of north Idaho and northeast Washington. The highest peak in Spokane County is
Mount SpokaneMount Spokane is a mountain located northeast of Spokane, Washington. It is one of the tallest peaks in the Inland Northwest. Mt. Spokane is surrounded by Mt...
at an elevation of , located on the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains. The most prominent water feature in the area is the
Spokane RiverThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
, a tributary of the
Columbia RiverThe Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
, originating from
Lake Coeur d'AleneLake Coeur d'Alene is a lake in the Idaho Panhandle, located in the vicinity of the city of the same name. It spans long, ranges from 1 to wide and has over of shoreline for boaters and vacationers to explore and enjoy. The lake is fed primarily by two rivers, Coeur d'Alene River and Saint Joe...
in northern Idaho. The river flows west across the Washington state line through downtown Spokane, meeting
Latah CreekLatah Creek, also known as Hangman Creek, is a low-volume river in eastern Washington and western Idaho in the United States. The river flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River...
which comes from the south directly west of Spokane, then turns to the northwest where it is joined by the
Little Spokane RiverThe Little Spokane River is a major tributary of the Spokane River, approximately 35 mi long, in eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a rural area of forested foothills and a farming valley north of the city of Spokane along the Idaho-Washington border.It rises in southern Pend...
on its way to join the Columbia River, north of
DavenportDavenport is a city in Lincoln County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,730 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County.-Geography:Davenport is located at ....
.
Spokane is at an elevation of above sea level. The lowest elevation in the city of Spokane is the northernmost point of the
Spokane RiverThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
within city limits (in
Riverside State ParkRiverside State Park is a park northwest of Spokane in Nine Mile Falls, Washington. At over , it is the second-largest state park in Washington. The park includes two campgrounds; one at the Bowl & Pitcher and the other at the Nine Mile Recreation area...
) at and the highest elevation is on the northeast side near the community of
HillyardHillyard, Washington was a town in Spokane County, Washington which existed as a separate town between 1892 and 1924.The town came about due to the Great Northern Railway and was named for James J. Hill, then-head of the railroad. Between 1904 and 1912, many of the town's houses were built, to...
, though closer to Beacon Hill and the North Hill Reservoir at .
Climate
Spokane's climate is classified as
continentalContinental climate is a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer, although east coast areas may show an even distribution of precipitation.Regions containing...
or
hemiborealHemiboreal means halfway between the temperate and subarctic zones. The term is most frequently used in the context of ecosystems....
(Dsb) using the
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by the Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself notably in 1918 and 1936...
, meaning it is
semi-aridA Semi-arid climate or steppe climate generally describes climatic regions that receive low annual rainfall . A more precise definition is given by the Köppen climate classification that treats steppe climates as intermediates between the desert climates and humid climates in ecological...
, has a warm summer, and winters cold enough to maintain snow cover. Spokane has the characteristics of a warm, arid climate during the summer months and a cold, coastal climate in the winter. Both summer and winter are the predominant seasons; summers are warm and dry, and winters are cold and somewhat snowy. The average warmest month is August and the average coolest month is January. The normal July maximum is , minimum ; the normal January maximum is , minimum of ; extremes range from to , but temperatures of more than and less than are rare.
Because of Spokane's location between the Cascade Mountains to the west and
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
to the east and north, the city is protected from weather patterns experienced in other parts of the Pacific Northwest. The Cascade Mountains form a barrier to the easterly movement of moist and comparatively mild air from the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
in winter and cool air in summer. As a result of the modifying effect of the Cascade Mountains, the Spokane area also has less than half the rainfall of its west side neighbor, Seattle. The average annual precipitation in the Spokane area is , whereas the Seattle area receives annually. The most precipitation occurs in December, and summer is the driest time of the year. The Rocky Mountains shield Spokane from the winter season’s cold air masses traveling southward across Canada, sparing the city from the worst effects of Arctic air in winter.
Metropolitan area
Spokane is surrounded by many incorporated and unincorporated communities, which make up the suburbs of Spokane. They include
Airway HeightsAirway Heights is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, just west of Spokane. The population was 4,500 at the 2000 census. The city's name was taken from its close proximity to Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport....
,
MeadMead is a small unincorporated farming community north of Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. This rural area is not tracked by the United States Census Bureau.In 1900 Mead was the second stop on the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway...
,
ColbertColbert is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The town is on U.S. Route 2.The ZIP Code is 99005 and centered at .Colbert has one store....
,
Spokane ValleySpokane Valley is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is located east of Spokane and west of Liberty Lake. It surrounds the town of Millwood on three sides...
,
MillwoodMillwood is a town in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,649 at the 2000 census. Millwood is a suburb of Spokane, Washington, and is surrounded on three sides by the city of Spokane Valley, Washington.-History:...
,
Nine Mile FallsNine Mile Falls is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is located 9 miles from downtown Spokane, at the location of the now non-existent falls on the Spokane River. The Nine Mile Falls Dam was built by Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad on the site of the...
,
Otis OrchardsOtis Orchards-East Farms is a census-designated place in Spokane County, Washington, United States, near the county's border with Idaho. The population was 6,318 at the 2000 census...
, and
Liberty LakeLiberty Lake is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, on the Idaho state line. Liberty Lake is a suburb of Spokane, Washington. Thus, it is situated between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho...
. Across the border in Idaho are
Post FallsPost Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States near the Idaho state line between Spokane, Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The population was 17,247 at the 2000 census Post Falls is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States near the Idaho state line between Spokane,...
and
Coeur d'AleneCoeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 34,514...
.
Neighborhoods
Much of Spokane's history is reflected in its large variety of neighborhoods. Neighborhoods range from the Victorian-era style South Hill and Browne's Addition, to the Davenport Arts District of Downtown, to the more contemporary neighborhoods of North Spokane.
Spokane's neighborhoods are gaining attention for their history, as illustrated by the city being home to 18 recognized National Register Historical Districts, the most in any city in the state of Washington. More than 50% of Spokane’s downtown is designated as historic, and makes up three separate National Register Historic Districts. In all, more than 1,300 individual properties on the National Register are located in Spokane County, 15 of which are districts.
Downtown renewal
Downtown Spokane has undergone a major rebirth in recent years with over $3 billion in new investments and the completion of River Park Square Mall. The historic Davenport Hotel underwent a major renovation in 2002 after being vacant for over 20 years. Other major projects include the renovation of the Holley Mason Building, the building of the Big Easy concert house (now renamed the
Knitting FactoryThe Knitting Factory is a New York City, Hollywood, Boise, and Spokane music club and concert house, originally specializing in jazz and experimental music.-History:...
), expansion of the Spokane Convention Center, and the renovation of the historic
Montvale HotelThe Montvale Hotel is a boutique hotel in Spokane, Washington. Originally built in 1899 as an SRO , the Montvale Hotel also served Spokane as an apartment building, a brothel, and as a youth hostel during Expo '74 and then was abandoned for 30 years...
and
Fox TheaterThe Fox Theater in Spokane, Washington is a 1931 Art Deco movie theater that was recently restored for over $31 million and opened again as the home of the Spokane Symphony on November 17, 2007 with Tony Bennett performing on November 19, 2007 to help celebrate the Grand re-opening...
(now home to the
Spokane SymphonyThe Spokane Symphony is a 70-piece orchestra based in Spokane, WA that performs more than 60 concerts per year for more than 150,000 listeners. It was originally incorporated in 1945 as the Spokane Philharmonic before being renamed the Spokane Symphony in 1962...
). Still more construction is proposed. Local developer Rob Brewster has proposed building the new VOX Tower which, if approved, will become the tallest building in Spokane. All new skyscrapers built in Spokane are subject to city height restrictions.
The Kendall Yards development on the north side of downtown Spokane along the Spokane River will become one of the largest construction projects in the city's history. The proposed development will directly connect to downtown with bridges across the Spokane River and will blend residential and retail space with plazas and walking trails. Upon completion, the nearly Kendall Yards project will include up to 2,600 residential units and up to of commercial, retail, and office space.
Demographics
As of the 2000
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
, there were 195,629 people, 81,512 households, and 47,276 families residing in 87,941 housing units at
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
of 3,387 people per square mile (1,307.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 89.46%
WhiteWhite American is an umbrella term officially employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S...
, 2.07%
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
, 1.76%
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
, 2.25%
Asian{Infobox Ethnic group|group = Asian American|image =Graduation Rate! align="CENTER" | Bachelor's Degree
or More|-| align="LEFT" | Asian Indians| align="RIGHT" | 90.2%| align="RIGHT" | 67.9%|-| align="LEFT" | Filipinos| align="RIGHT" | 90.8%...
, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 0.88% from other races, and 3.38% from two or more races.
Hispanic or LatinoHispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of origins in Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain - "Mexican," "Puerto Rican," or "Cuban" - as well as those who indicate that they are "other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." Origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or...
of any race were 2.99% of the population.
Of the 81,512 households, 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.3% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,273, and the median income for a family was $41,316. Males had a median income of $31,676 versus $24,833 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city was $18,451. About 11.1% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under the age of 18 and 9.6% of those ages 65 and older.
According to the
Association of Religion Data ArchivesThe Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
' 2000 Metro Area Membership Report, the denominational groups of the Spokane MSA are 43,397 Evangelical Protestant; 32,207 Mainline Protestant; 776 Orthodox; 57,187 Catholic; 17,351 Other; and 267,021 Unclaimed.
Economy
In 1883, gold and silver were discovered in the Inland Northwest; as a regional shipping center, the city furnished supplies to the miners who passed through on their way to mine in the Coeur d’Alene as well as the Colville and Kootenay districts. By the mid-1890s, high mining operations were underway in the region. The area is considered to be one of the most productive mining districts in North America. Natural resources have traditionally provided much of the economic activity for the Spokane area, a major center for the timber, agriculture, and mining industries in the region.
Companies have located or relocated to the Spokane area, drawn by the easy access to raw materials and lower operating costs, such as cheap hydroelectric power. Finished wood products, metal refinery and fabrication, and food processing are among the leaders in manufacturing.
Fortune 1000Fortune 1000 is a reference to a list maintained by the American business magazine Fortune. The list is of the 1000 largest American companies, ranked on revenues alone...
company, Potlatch Corporation, which operates as a
real estate investment trustA Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT is a tax designation for a corporation investing in real estate that reduces or eliminates corporate income taxes. In return, REITs are required to distribute 90% of their income, which may be taxable, into the hands of the investors...
(REIT) and owns and manages timberlands located in Arkansas, Idaho, Minnesota, and Oregon, is headquartered in Spokane. The surrounding area, especially to the south, is a productive agricultural region known as the
PalouseThe Palouse is a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major wheat-producing agricultural area...
. A number of
wineriesWashington wine is wine produced from grape varieties grown in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington ranks second in the United States in the production of wine, behind only California. By 2006, the state had over of vineyards, a harvest of of grapes, and exports going to over 40 countries...
and breweries also operate in the Spokane area.
Forestry and agribusiness continue to be important elements in the local economy, but Spokane's economy has diversified to encompass other industries, including the high-tech and biotech sectors. Signature Genomic Laboratories, a fast-growing genetics company, is headquartered in Spokane, and
ItronItron Inc. is a multinational company based in Liberty Lake, Washington. Itron provides products and services for the energy and water industries. It produces electricity, gas, water, and heat meters; and various other associated metering products for residential, commercial and industrial, and...
, a producer of metering, data collection, and software products is headquartered in nearby
Liberty Lake, WashingtonLiberty Lake is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, on the Idaho state line. Liberty Lake is a suburb of Spokane, Washington. Thus, it is situated between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho...
. Economic development in Spokane focuses on six industries: manufacturing, aerospace, health sciences, information technology, clean technology, and digital media. Spokane's downtown is the site of a 100-block wireless network—one of the largest of its kind in the country, which is seen as symbolic of its dedication to the development of technological opportunities and resources.
In 2000, the leading industries in Spokane for the employed population 16 years and older were educational services, health care, and social assistance, 23.8 percent, and retail trade, 12.7 percent. The health care industry is a large and increasingly important industry in Spokane; the city provides specialized care to many patients from the surrounding Inland Northwest and as far north as the Canadian border. Other industries include construction and mining, manufacturing, transportation, communication and networking utilities, finance, insurance, real estate, and government. Furthermore, all branches of the U.S. armed forces are represented in Spokane County. The largest military facility in the area is
Fairchild Air Force BaseFairchild Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command . It is located in Spokane County, Washington, United States, 12 miles west of Spokane. Part of the base is a census-designated place , which had a population of 4,357 at the 2000...
. Sizable companies with locations in the Spokane region include Agilent,
CiscoCisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore* Nissin Cisco Co...
,
F5 NetworksF5 Networks, Inc. is a networking appliances company. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and has development and marketing offices worldwide...
,
General DynamicsGeneral Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. The company has changed markedly in the post-Cold War era of defense consolidation. The company has four main business segments:...
,
Goodrich CorporationGoodrich Corporation , formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, is an American aerospace manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the "B.F...
,
ItronItron Inc. is a multinational company based in Liberty Lake, Washington. Itron provides products and services for the energy and water industries. It produces electricity, gas, water, and heat meters; and various other associated metering products for residential, commercial and industrial, and...
,
Kaiser AluminumKaiser Aluminum is an American aluminum producer. The company was founded in 1946 by American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Kaiser entered the aluminum business by leasing, then purchasing three government-owned aluminum facilities in Washington state. These were the primary reduction plants at...
, Telect, and Triumph Composite Systems.
As the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest as well as southern
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
and
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
, Spokane serves as a commercial, manufacturing, transportation, medical, shopping, and entertainment hub. The city is also the hub for the service industries, and the wholesale and retail trade center of the Inland Northwest region. Due in part because Spokane is the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis, and because it lies along the route to many regional attractions, tourism is on the rise in the area. Spokane can be a "base camp" for activities such as
river raftingRafting or whitewater rafting is a challenging recreational activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers...
,
campingCamping is an outdoor recreational activity.The participants, known as campers, leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights, usually at a campsite, which may have cabins...
, and other activities in the region.
Culture
Life in Spokane is heavily influenced by its climate and geographical location. Spokane experiences a four-season climate, and is close in proximity to dozens of lakes and rivers for swimming, boating, rafting, and fishing, as well as mountains for skiing, hiking, and biking. As a result, Spokane can be characterized as an "outdoorsy" city. Within a short drive from Spokane, visitors can find 76 lakes, 33 golf courses, 11 wineries, five ski resorts, five major national parks, the
Columbia RiverThe Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
gorge, and the
Grand Coulee DamGrand Coulee Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. In the United States, it is the largest electric power-producing facility and the largest concrete structure...
. Glacier National Park is just four hours away from Spokane, and Mt. Rainier National Park is four and a half hours away. Other national parks are less than an eight-hour drive away, including the
U.S. Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress as a national park on March 1, 1872 , is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. The park was the first of its kind, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features,...
, and Canada's
Banff National ParkBanff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The park, located 110-180 kilometres west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 square kilometres of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice fields, dense...
and
Jasper National ParkJasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, to the north of Banff National Park and west of the city of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls...
.
Spokane is big enough to have many amenities of a larger city, but small enough to support annual events and traditions with a small town atmosphere. Spokane was awarded the
All-American City AwardThe All-America City Award is given by the National Civic League annually to ten cities in the United States.The award is the oldest community recognition program in the nation and recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve...
by the
National Civic LeagueThe National Civic League is an organization founded in 1894 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a meeting of politicians, policy-makers, journalists, and educators to discuss the future of American cities...
in 1974 and 2004. The National Civic League is an organization which recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results. There are several museums in the city, most notably the
Northwest Museum of Arts and CultureThe Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum, is located in Spokane, Washington's Browne's Addition.It is one of many associated with the Smithsonian ....
(MAC), a Smithsonian affiliate museum that houses a large collection of Native American artifacts as well as regional and national traveling art exhibits. Located in Browne's Addition amid the mansions of Spokane's late 19th-century golden age, the Museum is in a secluded setting a few blocks from the center of downtown.
Arts and theater
Spokane hosts a variety of visual and performing arts scenes. These attractions include a major civic theater as well as several smaller ones, the Spokane Symphony, a jazz orchestra, an opera house, and other musical venues.
Spokane has a vibrant art scene. Spokane's two main Artwalk dates (the first Friday of February and October) attract large crowds to the art districts. Spokane's main art districts are located in the Davenport District, the Garland Business District, and East Sprague. The First Friday Artwalk, which occurs the first Friday of every month, is dedicated to local vendors and performers displaying art around Downtown. The Davenport District is also home to many art galleries as well as some of Spokane's main performing arts venues.
Spokane offers an array of musical performances catering to a variety of interests. The
Spokane Symphony OrchestraThe Spokane Symphony is a 70-piece orchestra based in Spokane, WA that performs more than 60 concerts per year for more than 150,000 listeners. It was originally incorporated in 1945 as the Spokane Philharmonic before being renamed the Spokane Symphony in 1962...
presents a full season of classical music, and the Spokane Jazz Orchestra, a full season of jazz music. The Spokane Symphony is a non-profit organization that was originally incorporated as the Spokane Philharmonic in 1945. The Spokane Jazz Orchestra is a non-profit organization formed in 1962 that claims to be the nation's oldest, continually performing, professional, and community-supported 17-piece big band.
Theater is provided by Spokane's only resident professional company, Interplayers Ensemble. Theater is also provided by Spokane Civic Theatre and several amateur community theaters and smaller groups. Fox Theater, which has been restored to its original 1931
Art DecoArt Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film...
state, is the home of the Spokane Symphony. The Metropolitan Performing Arts Center was restored in 1988 and renamed
Bing Crosby TheaterBing Crosby Theater is a performing arts theater located in Spokane, Washington that was designed by theater architect Edwin W. Houghton. The theater was originally built in 1915 as an 800-seat movie theater called Clemmer Theater...
in honor of Spokane native
Bing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death....
in 2006.
The 1985 film
Vision QuestVision Quest is a 1985 coming of age drama starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Ronny Cox. It is based on the novel of the same name by author Terry Davis. In some countries it was released as Crazy For You to market on Madonna's emerging fame and the popularity of the song...
, featuring a live performance by Madonna was filmed on location in Spokane in 1984.
Parks and recreation
The Spokane area offers an abundance of outdoor activities that can be enjoyed in outlying natural areas that may cater to a variety of interests, including miles of hiking trails, many lakes for fishing and watersports, and numerous parks for sightseeing. In 1907, Spokane's board of park commissioners retained the services of the
Olmsted BrothersThe Olmsted Brothers company was an influential landscape design firm in the United States, formed in 1898 by stepbrothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. . They inherited the nation's first landscape architecture business from their father Frederick Law Olmsted...
to draw up a plan for Spokane's parks. Much of Spokane's park land was acquired by the city prior to World War I, establishing the city early on as a leader among Western cities in the development of a city-wide park system. Today, Spokane has a system of over 75 parks totaling . Some of the most notable parks in Spokane's extensive park system are
Riverfront ParkRiverfront Park is a public park in Spokane, Washington. The 100 acre park is located downtown along the Spokane River, not far up from the Spokane Falls. It was created for Expo '74, a World's Fair event. The defining feature of the park is the Pavilion, which is marked by a 145 ft tall metal...
,
Manito Park and Botanical GardensManito Park and Botanical Gardens is a public park with arboretum, botanical gardens, and conservatory, located at 17th Ave and Grand Blvd in Spokane, Washington. It is open daily without charge.-History:...
,
Riverside State ParkRiverside State Park is a park northwest of Spokane in Nine Mile Falls, Washington. At over , it is the second-largest state park in Washington. The park includes two campgrounds; one at the Bowl & Pitcher and the other at the Nine Mile Recreation area...
, and the
John A. Finch ArboretumJohn A. Finch Arboretum is a public arboretum located at West 3404 Woodlawn Boulevard, Spokane, Washington, USA on Sunset Hill. It is open daily without charge....
.
Riverfront Park, created after Expo '74 and occupying the same site, is in downtown Spokane and the site of some of Spokane's largest events. The park has views of the
Spokane FallsSpokane Falls is the name of the series of waterfalls and dams on the Spokane River in downtown Spokane, Washington.The falls consists of an Upper Falls and a Lower Falls. The Upper Falls is the site of the Upper Falls Dam, a diversion dam constructed in 1920 that directs the water into the Upper...
, and holds a number of civic attractions, including a Skyride that is a rebuilt gondola that carries visitors across the falls from high above the river gorge, a 5-story IMAX theater, and a small amusement park (which is converted into an ice-skating rink during the winter months) with numerous rides and concessions. The park is host to a full schedule of family entertainment and events such as the
BloomsdayThe Lilac Bloomsday Run is an annual timed road race in Spokane, Washington, held on the first Sunday of every May since 1977. The course is 12km long. The course starts in Downtown Spokane and heads northwest along the far west end of town, passes by Mukogowa Ft...
Post-Race Celebration,
HoopfestHoopfest is an annual 3on3 basketball tournament. Such an event can be held for several means. Examples are for a charity, physical activity, disease curement, and most commonly human spectation. The idea sees two even teams oppose each other in various games of basketball where the advancing teams...
, the
IMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada's IMAX Corporation. The traditional version of IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
Film Festival, Spokane Music Festival, Pig Out in the Park, Restaurant Fair, Pow Wow,
First NightFirst Night is an outdoor artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Since it happens on New Year's Eve, First Night celebrations are actually held on the last night of the old year. The real first night occurs on New Year's Day...
Spokane, and outdoor concerts and other community activities. The park also includes the hand-carved
Riverfront Park Looff carouselThe Riverfront Park Carousel, also known as the Looff Carousel and the Natatorium Park Carousel is a carousel in Spokane, Washington originally built in 1909 by Charles I. D. Looff. The carousel was a gift for Looff's daughter Emma Vogel and her husband Louis Vogel, who owned Natatorium Park in...
created in 1909 by
Charles I. D. LooffCharles I. D. Looff was a master carver and builder of hand-carved carousels and amusement rides in America. Looff built the first carousel at Coney Island in 1876. During his lifetime, he manufactured many carousels, several roller coasters and Ferris wheels, and built California's famous Santa...
as a wedding present for his daughter. The carousel still operates in Riverfront Park, where riders can participate in an old-time ring toss. The carousel continues to offer a free ride to the rider who grabs the brass ring. Riverfront Park also includes ample views of the Spokane falls as well as other water features of the Spokane River. Manito Park and Botanical Gardens, on Spokane's South Hill, has a duck pond, a central conservatory named in memory of Dr. David Gaiser, Duncan Gardens, a classical European Renaissance style garden, and the Nishinomiya Japanese Garden designed by
Nagao Sakurai- Notable designs :*Tea Garden, City of San Mateo.*Nishinomiya Japanese Garden, in the Manito Park and Botanical Gardens, Spokane, Washington, 1967*Zen Garden, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco *The UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, Bel-Air...
. Riverside State Park, is a scenic park close to downtown that is a site for hiking, mountain biking, and rafting. The John A. Finch Arboretum, is a public
arboretumAn arboretum is a collection of trees. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
featuring a variety of rare and native trees and wildlife.
A more active way to see natural sites in the Spokane area include travelling the
Spokane River Centennial TrailThe Spokane River Centennial Trail is a paved trail in Washington for alternate transportation and recreational use. It extends from Sontag Park in Nine Mile Falls, Washington to the Washington/Idaho border. It passes through the cities of Spokane, Washington, Spokane Valley, Washington, Liberty...
, which features over of paved trails running along the Spokane River from Sontag Park in west Spokane to the east shore of
Lake Coeur d'AleneLake Coeur d'Alene is a lake in the Idaho Panhandle, located in the vicinity of the city of the same name. It spans long, ranges from 1 to wide and has over of shoreline for boaters and vacationers to explore and enjoy. The lake is fed primarily by two rivers, Coeur d'Alene River and Saint Joe...
in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. This trail is often used for alternative transportation and recreational use, such as running, walking, cycling, or skating.
In addition to the park system within the city, there are many natural areas where outdoors activities can be enjoyed close by. In the summer, one may visit
Lake Coeur d'AleneLake Coeur d'Alene is a lake in the Idaho Panhandle, located in the vicinity of the city of the same name. It spans long, ranges from 1 to wide and has over of shoreline for boaters and vacationers to explore and enjoy. The lake is fed primarily by two rivers, Coeur d'Alene River and Saint Joe...
,
Lake Pend OreilleLake Pend Oreille is a lake in the northern Idaho Panhandle, with a surface area of 148 square miles. It is 65 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the United States. It is fed by the Clark Fork River and the Pack River, and drains via the Pend Oreille...
,
Priest LakePriest Lake, Idaho, United States is located in the northernmost portion of the Idaho Panhandle with the northern end of the lake extending north to within 15 miles of the Canadian border. The history of the lake dates back almost 10,000 years to the end of the last ice age...
, or one of the other nearby bodies of water. The Spokane area has 76 lakes and numerous rivers, where various water sports, fishing, camping, and rafting can take place. In the winter, the public has access to five ski resorts within a couple hours of the city, including Schweitzer Mountain Resort in
Sandpoint, IdahoSandpoint is a city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 6,835 at the 2000 census.Sandpoint's major industry is tourism and recreation, thanks to its proximity to scenic Lake Pend Oreille and Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort...
, Silver Mountain Resort in
Kellogg, IdahoKellogg is a city in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, in the Idaho Panhandle region. The city lies near the Coeur d'Alene National Forest and about 36 miles east-southeast of Coeur d'Alene along Interstate 90...
,
Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation AreaLookout Pass Ski and recreation Area is a ski area at Lookout Pass in northern Idaho on the Montana border, 4 miles east of Mullan on Interstate 90. It has a summit elevation of 5650 feet on Runt Mountain with a vertical drop of 1150 feet on the northeast-facing slopes...
in
Mullan, IdahoMullan is a town located in a sheltered canyon of the Coeur d'Alène Mountains in Shoshone County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 840 at the 2000 census. The town is in the east end of the Silver Valley mining district; the elevation is 3250 feet above sea level...
, and
49 Degrees North Ski AreaThe 49 Degrees North Ski Area is a ski resort located in Washington, United States, in the Selkirk Mountains. The base elevation is with the peak at . The mountain is served by five chairlifts in an area of .- Access & Operations Hours :...
in
Chewelah, WashingtonChewelah is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. Chewelah was labeled Chiel-Charle-Mous on the 1897 U. S. Land Office Map...
. The closest ski area is
Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard ParkMount Spokane is a mountain located northeast of Spokane, Washington. It is one of the tallest peaks in the Inland Northwest. Mt. Spokane is surrounded by Mt...
, operated by a non-profit organization. Mt. Spokane has trails for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and dog sledding. During the non-winter months, hikers and mountain bikers may use the trails.
Events and activities
Spokane is home to annual events and attractions that draw people from the surrounding area. Every year in May, Spokane hosts the
Lilac FestivalThe Lilac Festival is an art, music, food and flora festival hosted annually in early May in Highland Park in Rochester, New York. It is the oldest festival of its kind in North America, drawing spectators from all over the globe. Highland Park possesses a huge collection of lilacs, featuring more...
, which features many events including the Armed Forces Torchlight Parade held the third Sunday of May. The
Lilac Bloomsday RunThe Lilac Bloomsday Run is an annual timed road race in Spokane, Washington, held on the first Sunday of every May since 1977. The course is 12km long. The course starts in Downtown Spokane and heads northwest along the far west end of town, passes by Mukogowa Ft...
, held on the first Sunday of each May, is a race for walkers and competitive runners that typically draws about 45,000 participants.
HoopfestHoopfest is an annual 3on3 basketball tournament. Such an event can be held for several means. Examples are for a charity, physical activity, disease curement, and most commonly human spectation. The idea sees two even teams oppose each other in various games of basketball where the advancing teams...
is held the last weekend in June, and has a variety of participants, from kids, teens, and adults to former college and NBA players, in their respective brackets. Hoopfest started in 1989 with just 300+ teams, but now the event averages more than 25,000 participants or around 6,000 3-4 person teams annually.
Film festivals held in Spokane include The Spokane International Film Festival and The Spokane Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Held every February, The Spokane International Film Festival is a small, juried festival that features documentaries and shorts from around the world. The Spokane Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, which is held every November, features contemporary, "independent films" of interest to the GLBT community. Also, The Garland Village Arts & Music Festival takes place the second Saturday every August.
Other notable events in Spokane include the Spokane Interstate Fair, Japan Week, Get Lit!, and The Spokane Pride Parade. The Spokane Interstate Fair is held annually in September at the Fair and Expo Center which recently completed an $18 million dollar expansion. Japan Week is held in April and celebrates the sister-city relationship with
Nishinomiya, Hyogois a city located in Hyōgo, Japan, between the cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe. On April 1, 2005, the city of Nishinomiya celebrated its 80th anniversary. It is best known as the home of Kōshien Stadium, where the Hanshin Tigers baseball team plays home games and where Japan's annual high school baseball...
, demonstrating the many commonalities shared between the two cities. Students from the Spokane campus of Mukogawa Institute, Whitworth University, Gonzaga University, Spokane Falls and Spokane Community College organize an array of Japanese cultural events, in addition to a number of others that take place around the city. Get Lit! is an annual literary festival held each April for readers and writers sponsored by the Eastern Washington University Press. Get Lit! features author presentations, reading and writing workshops, panels, and author visitations to schools throughout the eastern Washington and northern Idaho area. The Spokane Pride Parade held each June draws gays, lesbians, and others in celebration of the value of diversity.
Sports
Spokane's professional sports teams include the
Spokane ShockThe Spokane Shock are a professional arena football team in the Arena Football 1 from Spokane, Washington, USA. They play their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena...
(
af2AF2 was the name of the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup...
),
Spokane IndiansThe Spokane Indians are a minor league baseball team in Spokane, Washington, USA. They are a Short-Season A classification team in the Northwest League and have been a farm team of the Texas Rangers since 2003. The Indians play home games at Avista Stadium...
(
Northwest LeagueThe Northwest League of Professional Baseball is a Short-Season A classification minor league. The league is the descendant of the Western International League which ran as a class B league from 1937-1951 and class A from 1952-1954...
),
Spokane ChiefsThe Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Spokane consistently ranks in the top 10 in the...
(
Western Hockey LeagueThe Western Hockey League is a Major Junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
),
Spokane SunzThe Spokane Sunz are a member of the American Basketball Association, set to debut in December 2009 in Spokane, WA. They are one of the expansion teams in the Northwest conference of the ABA....
(American Basketball Association), and the
Spokane SpidersSpokane Spiders is an American soccer team based in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference.The team plays its home games at...
(Premier Development League).
Collegiate sports in Spokane focus on the local teams such as the
GonzagaGonzaga University is a private Catholic Jesuit university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...
BulldogsThe Gonzaga Bulldogs are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...
that compete in the
West Coast ConferenceThe West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of eight member schools across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.All of the current members are private, religiously-affiliated institutions...
(WCC) as well as other Inland Northwest teams including the
Washington StateWashington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university and confers bachelor's, master's, professional and doctoral degrees, and offers...
CougarsThe Washington State Cougars are the athletic teams at Washington State University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Washington State University is a member of the Pacific-10 Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...
,
Eastern Washington EaglesEastern Washington University is a public comprehensive state university. The main campus is located in Cheney and has a branch campus in Spokane, Washington...
, and the
IdahoThe University of Idaho is the state of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state. UI is the state's land-grant and primary research university...
VandalsThe Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Idaho. The Vandals participate in the NCAA's Division I FBS in the Western Athletic Conference ....
.
In 1995, the
Spokane Public Facilities DistrictThe Spokane Public Facilities District is the organization in Spokane, Washington that manages the Spokane Arena and Spokane Center, which consists of the Spokane Convention Center and the INB Performing Arts Center. It was created in 1989 by the Washington State Legislature to create a plan to...
opened Spokane's premier sports venue, the
Spokane Veterans Memorial ArenaSpokane Veterans Memorial Arena a multi-purpose arena located in Spokane, Washington, USA. The building is home to the Spokane Chiefs hockey team of the WHL, and the Spokane Shock arena football team of Arena Football 1.-Construction:With an aging Spokane Coliseum, along with a need for a larger...
to replace the aging
Spokane ColiseumThe Spokane Coliseum, also known as "the Boone Street Barn", was an indoor arena located in Spokane, Washington. It opened in 1954 and had a capacity of 5,400. It was host to a number of teams including the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League...
. In the years since the Spokane Arena opened, it along with the city of Spokane have played host to several major sporting events. The first major event the 1998
Memorial CupThe Memorial Cup is a junior ice hockey club championship trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. Each year the champions from three CHL member leagues; the Western Hockey League , Ontario Hockey League , and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League , along with a host team,...
, the championship game of the
Canadian Hockey LeagueThe Canadian Hockey League is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canadian-based Major Junior ice hockey leagues for players 16 to 20 years of age. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three member leagues, the Ontario Hockey...
. Four years later in 2002, Spokane hosted the
2002 Skate AmericaSkate America is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by the USFSA. It is the first ISU Grand Prix event to be held. The location changes yearly...
figure skating competition, as well as the first two rounds of NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament. The Spokane Arena is the perennial host to the State 2B Basketball Championships, which brings athletes and fans from across Washington to Spokane.
Spokane hosted the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in the Spokane Arena. The event set an attendance record, selling nearly 155,000 tickets and was later named the "Sports Event of the Year" by
Sports Travel Magazine, beating out events such as
Super Bowl XLISuper Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
. Fans, analysts and athletes, including Ice Dancing champion
Tanith BelbinTanith Jessica Louise Belbin is a Canadian-American ice dancer. Though she holds dual citizenship, she competes for the United States and has competed for the U.S. since she began skating with Benjamin Agosto in 1998...
, spoke highly of the city's performance as host, which included large, supportive crowds. On May 5, 2008, it was announced that Spokane will once again host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 2010—ending eighteen days before the start of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
| Club |
Sport |
League |
Stadium (or Arena) |
| Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a minor league baseball team in Spokane, Washington, USA. They are a Short-Season A classification team in the Northwest League and have been a farm team of the Texas Rangers since 2003. The Indians play home games at Avista Stadium...
|
BaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
|
Northwest League The Northwest League of Professional Baseball is a Short-Season A classification minor league. The league is the descendant of the Western International League which ran as a class B league from 1937-1951 and class A from 1952-1954...
(Eastern Division) |
Avista Stadium Avista Stadium is a stadium in Spokane Valley, Washington, USA. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team, a Class A short-season affiliate of the Texas Rangers...
|
| Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock are a professional arena football team in the Arena Football 1 from Spokane, Washington, USA. They play their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena...
|
Arena FootballArena football is a sport based upon American football. It is a proprietary game played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented in 1986, and patented in 1990, by James F. Foster, a former executive of the United States...
|
Arena Football 1 Arena Football 1 is an arena football league founded in 2009 to replace the indefinitely suspended Arena Football League. The league was formed with 16 teams: existing teams from the AFL and arenafootball2, an existing team from another league, and several new teams or markets...
|
Spokane Arena |
| Spokane Chiefs The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Spokane consistently ranks in the top 10 in the...
|
Ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
|
Western Hockey LeagueThe Western Hockey League is a Major Junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
(U.S. Division) |
Spokane Arena |
| Spokane Sunz The Spokane Sunz are a member of the American Basketball Association, set to debut in December 2009 in Spokane, WA. They are one of the expansion teams in the Northwest conference of the ABA....
|
BasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a 10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
|
American Basketball Association (2000-) (Northwest Conference) |
Spokane Community College Gymnasium |
Spokane SpidersSpokane Spiders is an American soccer team based in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference.The team plays its home games at...
|
Soccer |
Premier Development League (Northwest Division) |
Joe Albi StadiumJoe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. Primarily used for football, it is located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. It opened in 1950 as "Memorial Stadium," with a natural grass field, cinder running track, and a seating capacity of...
|
Media
Spokane is serviced by a variety of print media. Newspaper service includes its only major daily newspaper,
The Spokesman-Review, as well as other more specialized publications including the weekly alternative newspaper,
The Pacific Northwest InlanderThe Pacific Northwest Inlander is a free weekly newspaper published in Spokane, Washington and circulated throughout the Inland Northwest, covering local news and culture. It is published in print and online every Thursday. A member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, it was founded in...
, the bi-weekly business journal,
The Spokane Journal of Business, a monthly newspaper for parents,
Kids newspaperKids Newspaper is a non-profit, free monthly newspaper published in Spokane, Washington. Circulated through elementary schools at the beginning of each school month, Kids Newspaper focuses on supporting the parent-child relationship in an effort to build a stronger community...
, the monthly GLBT newsmagazine,
Q View Northwest, a monthly outdoor activities paper,
Out There Monthly, and the monthly paper covering the Garland neighborhood,
The Garland Times.
Spokane also has several community magazines.
Spokane Coeur d'Alene Living is a monthly home and lifestyle magazine,
The Spokane Sidekick is a bi-weekly arts & entertainment guide,
The Word is a monthly humor publication,
HomeTeam Sports is a tabloid dedicated to local sports in the area, and
The Family Guide is an annual publication distributed through the Spokane and Coeur d' Alene grade schools that contains resources to celebrate and strengthen family life in the Inland Northwest.
According to
ArbitronArbitron is a radio audience research company in the United States which collects listener data on radio audiences similar to that collected by Nielsen Media Research on television audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became bi-coastal by merging with L.A....
, Spokane is the 92nd largest radio market in the United States with 502,600 listeners aged 12 and over. Twenty-eight AM and FM radio stations broadcast in Spokane. Spokane has one low power (LPFM) community radio station — KYRS-LP. KYRS serves the Spokane area with progressive perspectives, filling needs that other media do not, providing programming to diverse communities and unserved or under-served groups.
Spokane is the 75th largest television market in the United States, accounting for 0.364% of the total TV households in the United States. Spokane has six television stations representing the major commercial networks and public television. The city is the television broadcast center for much of eastern Washington (except the Yakima and
Tri-CitiesThe Tri-Cities is a metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Washington, consisting of Benton and Franklin counties. Three neighboring cities are the principal cities for the metropolitan area: Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. The cities are located at the confluence of the...
area), north
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans." Idaho was admitted to the Union on 3 July 1890 as the 43rd state....
, northwestern
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, northeastern
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and parts of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(by
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required...
). Montana and Alberta, Canada are in the
Mountain Time ZoneThe Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time, sometimes called Greenwich Mean Time during the shortest days of autumn and winter, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time in the spring, summer, and early autumn...
and receive Spokane broadcasts one hour earlier by their local time. Spokane receives broadcasts in the
Pacific Time ZoneThe Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
. The major network television affiliates include
KREM-TVKREM is the CBS affiliate serving the Spokane, Washington–Coeur d'Alene, Idaho television market. Its digital signal is seen on UHF channel 20. The station is owned and operated by the Belo Corporation, and is sister station with KSKN-TV, The CW affiliate in the market...
2 (
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
),
KXLY-TVKXLY-TV is the ABC network affiliate in Spokane, Washington. KXLY-TV is owned by Spokane Television Group, a subsidiary of Morgan Murphy Media, it is one of five local Spokane TV stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider.- History :KXLY-TV signed on the air in early 1953, as...
4 (
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
),
KHQ-TVThis is about the NBC affiliate in Spokane, Washington. For the radio station in Charlevoix, Michigan known as 106 KHQ, see WKHQ.KHQ-TV, also known as "Q6", is the NBC affiliate for Spokane, Washington. It broadcast its digital signal on channel 15, then moved to 7 on the date of the digital...
6 (
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
) (Spokane's first television station, signing on the air on December 20, 1952),
KSPS-TVKSPS-TV, digital channel 8, is the PBS station in Spokane, Washington. It also has significant viewership in the province of Alberta, Canada, including the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. The station broadcasts its main signal from its site at Krell Hill, a.k.a...
7 (
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
),
KXMN-LPKXMN-LP, channel 11 , is the MyNetworkTV station in Spokane, Washington. KXMN is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, and is the sister station of KXLY-TV 4...
11 (
MNTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
), KSKN-TV 22 (
CWThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
), KCDT-TV 26 (
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
operating out of
Coeur d'Alene, IdahoCoeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 34,514...
),
KAYU-TVKAYU is the Fox television affiliate for Spokane, Washington, owned and operated by Mountain Broadcasting, LLC, a division of Northwest Broadcasting Company...
28 (
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
), KGPX-TV 34 (ION),
KQUPKQUP was an Independent television station licensed to Pullman, Washington, serving the Spokane, Washington area. KQUP was owned by the Daystar Television Network.-Station History:...
47LP (
RTNThe Retro Television Network is a system of television stations primarily airing classic television programming from the 1950s through the 1980s, such as Leave it to Beaver, Kojak, McHale's Navy, Adam-12, Emergency!, and The Rockford Files, as well as the horror film showcase Midnight Monster Hop...
) (translator for ch. 24 in
Pullman, WashingtonPullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census, and was estimated at 27,150 in 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau...
), and K55EB 55 (
TBNThe Trinity Broadcasting Network is the United States' largest Christian television network. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, it also has studio facilities located in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New York...
) (a translator for KTBN).
KSBN uses a mast radiator on top of
Delaney BuildingDelaney Building is an 8 floor high rise building in Riverside Avenue in Spokane, Washington. Delaney Building has on its top a 57.9 meters tall free-standing lattice tower insulated against ground, which is used for broadcasting the program of KSBN on 1230 kHz with 250 watts output power...
, which is a really unique antenna system.
Government and politics
The City of Spokane operates under a
Mayor-CouncilThe Mayor-Council government system, sometimes called the Mayor-Commission government system, is one of two variations of government used for the most part in modern representative municipal governments in the United States. It is also used in some other countries...
form of government, also referred to as a "Strong Mayor". Spokane switched to a Strong Mayor system in January 2001, after 40 years of running under a Council-Manager system. Spokane passed the initiative changing the form of government in November 1999. The Strong Mayor initiative created distinct legislative and executive branches within the city government. Under the Strong Mayor form of government, there are two distinct branches of government: the Executive (Mayor) and the Legislative (City Council). The City Council sets the policy direction for the city. The Mayor, as the
Chief Executive OfficerA chief executive officer or chief executive is one of the highest-ranking corporate officers or administrators in charge of total management...
for the City of Spokane, is in charge of operating city government and implementing the policies developed by the City Council.
Other key elected members in the government are the seven members of the Spokane City Council (two elected from each of three districts, plus a
PresidentPresident is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a "president" is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
elected through a city-wide vote), who make up the legislative branch of the city's government. In addition to setting policy, the City Council passes ordinances, and guides the city through legislative efforts.
The current mayor of Spokane is
Mary VernerMary Verner is the current mayor of Spokane, Washington.- Education :Originally from Fitzgerald, Georgia, Verner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Davidson College, earned her Master of Arts degree in environmental management from Yale University, and a law degree from...
; she became mayor on November 27, 2007, replacing
Dennis P. HessionDennis P. Hession , an attorney, was the appointed mayor of Spokane, Washington for nearly two years. He became mayor pro tem on December 16, 2005, when a special election to recall Mayor James E. West was certified...
, who conceded on November 9, 2007. Hession was sworn in on January 3, 2006, after the recall of
Jim WestJames Elton "Jim" West was an American politician. While serving as mayor of Spokane, Washington, he became the target of a sting operation conducted by the major local newspaper, the Spokesman Review...
.
The state of Washington is currently represented by Governor
Christine GregoireChristine O'Grady "Chris" Gregoire is the current Governor and former Attorney General of the state of Washington, and a member of the Democratic Party. Gregoire defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004 and again in the 2008 gubernatorial election...
and represented in the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
by
Maria CantwellMaria E. Cantwell is the junior United States Senator from the state of Washington and is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously she served in the Washington House of Representatives and one term as member of the United States House of Representatives from...
and
Patty MurrayPatricia Lynn "Patty" Murray is the senior United States Senator from Washington. A member of the Democratic Party, Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1992, becoming Washington's first female U.S. senator. She is now the Senate Majority Conference Secretary, the fifth-highest rank in the...
; at the district level, Spokane is in
Washington's 5th congressional districtThe Fifth Congressional District of Washington encompasses the Eastern Washington counties of Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Adams, Whitman, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin. It is centered around Spokane, the state's second largest city.Since 2005, the 5th...
, and represented in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
by Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
Spokane is regarded as being a conservative city, that tends to favor Republicans in elections. Although
John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
carried Spokane County by 50%-48% in the 2008 U.S. presidential elections, the city itself favored Obama over McCain by 60%-37%. Former Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,
Tom FoleyThomas Stephen Foley is an American politician of the Democratic Party, having served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and ambassador to Japan. He served in the United States Congress from 1965 to 1995...
served as a representative of Washington's 5th district for 30 years, enjoying large support from Spokane. The city elected
James Everett ChaseJames Everett Chase was an American politician. He was elected mayor of Spokane, Washington by a landslide 62 percent to 38 percent margin in 1981, becoming Spokane's first African American mayor...
as its first
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
mayor in 1981, and after his retirement, electing the city's first woman mayor, Vicki McNeil.
Education
Serving the general educational needs of the local population are two public library districts, the Spokane Public Library and the Spokane County Library District. Founded in 1904 with funding from philanthropist
Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was a Scottish industrialist, businessman, entrepreneur, and a major philanthropist....
, the Spokane Public Library system comprises a downtown library overlooking Spokane Falls and 6 branch libraries. Special collections include Northwest history, genealogy, Washington state, and Spokane County government documents.
Spokane Public SchoolsSpokane Public Schools is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington, USA and serves the city of Spokane.In October 2005, the district had an enrollment of 30,950....
(District 81) is the largest public school system in Spokane and the second largest in the state, serving roughly 30,000 students in 6 high schools, 6 middle schools, and 34 elementary schools. Other public school districts in Spokane include the
Central Valley School DistrictCentral Valley School District No. 356 is a K-12 public school district located in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, Washington. Over 12,000 students attend its 22 schools.-High Schools:*Barker High School*Central Valley High School*University High School...
,
Mead School DistrictMead School District No. 354 is a public school district located north of Spokane, Washington. Over 9,000 students attend the 14 schools in the district which consists of 2 high schools, an alternative high school, 2 middle schools, 8 elementary schools, and the Five Mile School House. The...
, and West Valley School District. A variety of state-approved private elementary and secondary schools augment the public school system.
Spokane is home to many higher education institutions. They include the private universities,
GonzagaGonzaga University is a private Catholic Jesuit university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...
and
WhitworthWhitworth University is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Spokane, Washington, that offers bachelor's and master's degrees in a variety of academic disciplines. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church...
, and the public
Community Colleges of SpokaneCommunity Colleges of Spokane is a community college district based in Spokane, Washington USA. Founded in 1963, CCS is a dynamic community college district serving some 38,600 students a year, spread across a service district in Eastern Washington. It comprises Spokane Community College, Spokane...
system as well as an ITT Tech and
University of PhoenixThe University of Phoenix is a private for-profit institution of higher learning. As the university with the largest student body in North America, it has a current enrollment of 420,700 undergraduate students and 78,000 graduate, or 224,880 full-time equivalent students. The school was founded...
campus. Gonzaga University and Law School, was founded by the Jesuits in 1887. Whitworth was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the
Presbyterian ChurchThe Presbyterian Church or PC is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
. While Spokane is one of the larger cities in the United States to lack a main campus of a state-supported university within its city limits,
Eastern Washington UniversityEastern Washington University is a public comprehensive state university. The main campus is located in Cheney and has a branch campus in Spokane, Washington...
(EWU) and
Washington State UniversityWashington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university and confers bachelor's, master's, professional and doctoral degrees, and offers...
(WSU) have operations at the
Riverpoint CampusRiverpoint Campus is an educational facility located near downtown Spokane, Washington in the United States. The campus houses facilities of four institutions: the Washington State University Spokane , Eastern Washington University, an extension of the medical school at the University of...
, just adjacent to downtown and across the Spokane River from the Gonzaga campus. The main EWU campus is located southwest of Spokane in nearby
CheneyCheney is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The full time resident population is 10,385 as of 2008 according to the U.S. Census Bureau...
, and WSU is located to the south in
PullmanPullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census, and was estimated at 27,150 in 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau...
.
Infrastructure
Healthcare
Spokane is the hub for medical services in the Inland Northwest. Six major hospitals are located in Spokane, four of which are full service facilities. The region's healthcare needs are served primarily by Seattle-based Providence Health & Services and Spokane-based Empire Health Services, two non-profit organizations who run the two biggest hospitals in Spokane,
Sacred Heart Medical Center (Spokane)Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital is a 623-bed hospital in Spokane, Washington. It is the largest hospital in Eastern Washington.- History :...
, and Deaconess Medical Center, respectively. The two hospitals, along with a majority of Spokane's major health care facilities are located on Spokane's Lower-South Hill, just south of downtown. The close proximity of the hospitals, doctors' offices, and specialized clinics scattered around this area, form what is known as the "Medical District" of Spokane.
Other hospitals in the area include the Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the northwest part of town, Holy Family Hospital on the north side, and Valley Hospital and Medical Center in
Spokane ValleySpokane Valley is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is located east of Spokane and west of Liberty Lake. It surrounds the town of Millwood on three sides...
. One of the twenty Shriners Hospitals in the United States is also located in Spokane.
Roads and highways
Spokane's streets use a street grid that is oriented to the four
cardinal directionThe four cardinal directions or cardinal points are north, south, east, and west, commonly denoted by their initials - N, S, E, W. They are mostly used for geographic orientation on Earth but may be calculated anywhere on a rotating astronomical body...
s. Generally in Spokane, the east-west roads are designated as avenues, and the north-south roads are referred to as streets. Major east-west thoroughfares in the city include Francis, Wellesley, Mission, Sprague, and 29th avenues. Major north-south thoroughfares include Maple-Ash, Monroe, Division, Hamilton, Greene-Market (north of I-90), and Ray-Freya (south of I-90). With over 40,000 vehicles per day
ADTAverage daily traffic or ADT, and sometimes also mean daily traffic, is the average number of vehicles two-way passing a specific point in a 24-hour period, normally measured throughout a year...
from Interstate 90 north to the US 2 - US 395 junction, North Division is Spokane's busiest corridor.
Spokane is primarily served by Interstate 90, which runs east-west from Seattle, through downtown Spokane, and eastward through Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, and onward to Coeur d'Alene. Although they are not limited access highways like I-90, US 2 and US 395 enter Spokane from the west via I-90 and continue north through Spokane via Division St. The two highways share the same route until they reach "The Y", where US 395 continues northward to
Deer ParkDeer Park is a city in Spokane County, Washington in the United States. The population was 3,017 at the 2000 census.-History:Deer Park was officially incorporated on June 24, 1908. Deer Park got its name when railroad surveyors saw deer grazing in the area. Deer Park was settled in 1889 when a...
then onward to Canada, and US 2 branches off to the northeast, continuing to
MeadMead is a small unincorporated farming community north of Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. This rural area is not tracked by the United States Census Bureau.In 1900 Mead was the second stop on the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway...
,
ChattaroyChattaroy is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The town is located on U.S. Route 2 approximately 10 miles north-northeast of Spokane at the confluence of the Little Spokane River and Dragoon Creek.- History :...
,
NewportNewport is a city in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,921 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pend Oreille County.-Geography:...
, and
SandpointSandpoint is a city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 6,835 at the 2000 census.Sandpoint's major industry is tourism and recreation, thanks to its proximity to scenic Lake Pend Oreille and Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort...
.
Over the past decade, the
Washington State Department of TransportationThe Washington State Department of Transportation , was established in 1905. The agency, led by a Secretary and overseen by the Governor, is a Washington governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of the state's transportation infrastructure...
(WSDOT) has aggressively improved local highways to keep up with the region's growth and to try to prevent congestion problems that plague many large cities around the country. In 2005, the WSDOT completed the first two phases of its I-90 Spokane-Idaho State Line widening project. Currently the interstate has been widened to six lanes through Spokane Valley, but another $210 million in funding is still needed to widen the last segment between Sullivan Road and the Idaho state line.
North Spokane Corridor
The Department of Transportation is currently constructing the
North Spokane CorridorThe U.S. Route 395 North Spokane Corridor is a $2.1 billion limited-access highway project in Spokane, Washington designed to improve freight and motorist mobility through the Spokane Metropolitan Area...
. When completed, the corridor will be a long limited access highway that will run from I-90 in the vicinity of the Thor/Freya interchange northward through Spokane, meeting the existing US 395 just south of Wandermere Golf Course. The north-south freeway is expected to take over $2 billion to complete (over $3 billion if inflation is factored in). The first drivable link of the freeway was officially opened to traffic on August 22, 2009 and runs from Farwell Road near US 2 south to the vicinity of Francis Avenue & Market Street (approximately ). Construction is currently under way at US 2 near Shady Slope Road, where contractors are replacing a small culvert with a much larger one which will accommodate both fish and wildlife passage under the highway structures, and constructing bridge and on-ramp structures which will create an interchange connecting US 2 with the US 395 North Spokane Corridor; this segment is tentatively scheduled to open in mid-2011, followed by the final project on the north end of the corridor, which will connect US 395 with the NSC the following year. The rest of the freeway will be built as funding is made available.
Public transportation
Before the influx of automobiles, people got around by using Spokane's streetcar system. Many of the older side streets in Spokane still have visible streetcar rails embedded in them, as they were never removed. Streetcar service was abandoned due to declining ridership in 1922 to 1933, and streetcar companies began to convert all of their routes to buses.
Today, mass transportation throughout the Spokane area is provided by the
Spokane Transit AuthoritySpokane Transit Authority, more commonly Spokane Transit or STA, provides mass transit services in the Spokane County Public Transportation Benefit Area...
(STA). STA currently operates approximately 151 buses and has a service area that covers roughly . A large percentage of STA bus routes originate from the central hub, the STA Plaza, in downtown Spokane. Passengers who stop at The Plaza can transfer to virtually any other Spokane Transit route.
Talk of constructing a rapid-transit system began in earnest in the late-1990s, with a
light railLight rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system being a preferred option to
bus rapid transitBus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems that use buses to provide a service that is of a higher speed than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
. The proposed light rail line was to run from The Plaza eastward through the
Spokane ValleySpokane Valley is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is located east of Spokane and west of Liberty Lake. It surrounds the town of Millwood on three sides...
to
Liberty LakeLiberty Lake is an incorporated city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, on the Idaho state line. Liberty Lake is a suburb of Spokane, Washington. Thus, it is situated between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho...
, with future extensions from The Plaza to
Spokane International AirportSpokane International Airport is a commercial airport located about west of downtown Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is the primary airport for Spokane, Eastern Washington, Coeur d'Alene, and North Idaho and is the second largest airport in the State of Washington...
, Liberty Lake to
Coeur d'Alene, IdahoCoeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census the population of Coeur d'Alene was 34,514...
, and a line running in the median of the currently-being-constructed, North Spokane Corridor. In 2005, the $263 million project was narrowly defeated by voters, shelving the project for the time being. A non-profit, non-partisan citizens group, The Inland Empire Rail Transit Association (also known as InlandRail), was created to continue the public dialog.
Spokane has rail and bus service provided by
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971 to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a blend of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station...
and
GreyhoundGreyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, USA, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States and Canada, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and incorporated...
via the
Spokane Intermodal CenterThe Spokane Intermodal Center is an inter-modal transport facility that serves as a station, re-fueling, and service stop for the Amtrak Empire Builder, as well as the Greyhound and Trailways station for Spokane, Washington, USA....
. The city is a stop for Amtrak's
Empire BuilderThe Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. Before Amtrak, the Empire Builder was operated by the Great Northern Railway. The train was Great Northern's flagship. The current route runs from Chicago, Illinois to the Pacific...
on its way from
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
. Through service continues once a night to both Seattle and
PortlandPortland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
, a reflection of the old
Spokane, Portland and Seattle RailwayThe Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway was a United States-based railroad incorporated in 1905. It was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of the Columbia River....
.
Airports
Spokane,
Eastern WashingtonEastern Washington is a region of the United States defined as the part of Washington east of the Cascade Mountains. It is notable for, among other things:*Central Washington University*The Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam...
and North Idaho are served by
Spokane International AirportSpokane International Airport is a commercial airport located about west of downtown Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is the primary airport for Spokane, Eastern Washington, Coeur d'Alene, and North Idaho and is the second largest airport in the State of Washington...
(GEG), which has international flights only to Canada. Spokane International Airport is the second largest airport in the state of Washington and is recognized by the FAA as a small hub. The airport is located west of downtown Spokane and is approximately a 10-minute drive away. Spokane International Airport is served by ten major airlines and three air cargo carriers. The international airport three letter designation is "GEG", a result and legacy of the Geiger Field days prior to 1960, when the airport was named after Army aviator Major
Harold GeigerMajor Harold C. Geiger , born in East Orange, New Jersey a pioneer in Army aviation and ballooning, killed in a plane crash in 1927...
in 1941.
Felts Field is a general aviation airport serving Spokane County and is located in east Spokane along the
Spokane RiverThe Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, which shares its name with the river...
. Felts Field served as Spokane's primary airport until Spokane International Airport was built.
Mead Flying Service is a small, privately owned airport located approximately one mile north of
Mead, WashingtonMead is a small unincorporated farming community north of Spokane in Spokane County, Washington, United States. This rural area is not tracked by the United States Census Bureau.In 1900 Mead was the second stop on the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway...
in Spokane County
Deer Park Municipal Airport is located approximately 22 miles north of Spokane. Though small, the airport with two runways accounts for 67.9 jobs, and $4,077,316 in economic activity for the Spokane area.
Utilities
The City of Spokane provides municipal
waterA water supply system or water supply network is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components which provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes:...
,
wastewater managementSewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
, and solid waste management. Spokane operates Washington’s only
waste-to-energyWaste-to-energy or energy-from-waste is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery...
plant, as well as two solid waste
transfer stationA transfer station is a building for the temporary deposition of some wastes. Transfer stations are often used as places where local waste collection vehicles will deposit their waste cargo prior to loading into larger vehicles...
s in the Spokane area as part of the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System, a collaboration between the City of Spokane and
Spokane CountySpokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington, named after the Spokane tribe. As of the 2000 census the population was 417,939, and estimated at 462,677 in 2008, making it the fourth most populous county in Washington state...
. Electricity generated by the waste-to-energy plant is used to operate the facility with excess energy being sold to
Puget Sound EnergyPuget Sound Energy is an energy company providing electrical power and natural gas in the Puget Sound region of the northwest United States. It serves electrical power to more than 1 million customers in Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Pierce, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties...
. Natural gas and electricity is provided by Avista Utilities, while
QwestQwest Communications International, Inc. is a large telecommunications carrier. Qwest provides local service in 14 western U.S...
and
ComcastComcast Corporation , founded in 1963, is the largest cable operator in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. Comcast is headquartered in the One Comcast Center in Center City, Philadelphia,...
provide television, internet, and telephone service.
Sister cities
Nishinomiya, Japanis a city located in Hyōgo, Japan, between the cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe. On April 1, 2005, the city of Nishinomiya celebrated its 80th anniversary. It is best known as the home of Kōshien Stadium, where the Hanshin Tigers baseball team plays home games and where Japan's annual high school baseball...
– since September, 1961 (Spokane's first sister city) Limerick, Ireland
Jecheon, South KoreaJecheon is a city in Chungcheongbuk-do , South Korea. The city is a major railway junction, served by the Jungang, Chungbuk and Taebaek Lines. Jecheon has scenic surroundings and several tourist spots like the Uirimji Reservoir and Cheongpung Lake...
Jilin, ChinaJilin City is a prefecture-level city in Jilin Province in China. It has a population of 1,985,000 and a metropolitan area of 27,120 km²...
Makhachkala, RussiaMakhachkala is a city in Russia, the capital of the Republic of Dagestan. It is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, at . Population: 462,412 .- History :...
Lübeck, GermanyThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World...
External links