Family fun: library cards show a stroll through Spokane’s history

The Spokane County Library District honors National Celebrate Diversity Month with a walking tour of Spokane’s history.

The 4.5-mile route has 29 stops at plaques, statues, and buildings in downtown and Riverfront Park, each with a story about the people – especially women, Indians, African Americans, and Asian Americans – who helped create Spokane to have.

“I think there are a lot of little things that might surprise people,” said librarian Molly Moore.

For a map and slide show of the tour, visit scld.org/spokane-area-history-walk/. You will also find a link there to download a printable version. It’s also available on historypin.org (search for “Spokane Area History Walk Collection”), where Moore has created a collection that includes websites outside of the city center.

To make the tour accessible, Moore had to be selective. “There are a lot of things in Spokane County in the area that I couldn’t include because you can’t walk there,” said Moore. She hopes the historypin.org collection will also help people discover some of these sites. Community members are invited to add Pins to this collection.

For each stop on the tour, Moore has written brief reflections and added resources for further study.

The tour begins at a railroad underpass on Washington Street. At the top of the arch is a yin-yang symbol, the Northern Pacific Railroad logo, and a reminder of the legacy of the Chinese workers who built the railroads in the American West, writes Moore in the tour description.

From there the tour moves to the Hutton Building, where Moore highlights the work of May Arkwright Hutton, who was a great supporter of the suffragist movement in Washington. She was also a philanthropist with her husband Levi Hutton after making him rich in the Silver Valley mining industry.

With a stop in Washington and Main, Moore describes what was once known as Trent Alley or Spokane’s Chinatown. The Spokane Public Schools district offices are one of several locations that highlight the work of Carl Maxey, Spokane’s first black attorney.

At the Spokane Convention Center, the tour ends at a statue in honor of astronaut Michael P. Anderson, a Cheney High School graduate who died when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on reentry in 2003.

There are several stops in Riverfront Park, including the Clocktower and the Canada Island Totem. The tour also ends at many of the park’s statues including Childhood Express (the red wagon), the garbage goat, and one in honor of the Sisters of Providence who raised money for Spokane’s first hospital and “is a really cool example of how women do things get ready, ”said Moore

Moore says he should make sure he wears good walking shoes and brings water – and split the tour into two or more days if necessary. The path leads over sidewalks and paved paths, so that it is accessible for pushchair users or wheelchair users.

For families looking to add an extra level of education, Moore recommends bringing a compass. She uses instructions such as “look west” in the descriptions so that children can practice their cardinal points.

Moore hopes the tour and its reflections can be a starting point for family conversations about Spokane’s history, she said.

“It’s an opportunity to see things that you might have seen before from a different perspective,” she said.