Before becoming a hub of high technology and online printing services Spokane,
Washington was inhabited by Native American hunter-gatherer societies. These
tribes lived upwards of 12,000 years ago and after several thousand years they
gradually gave way to the modern Spokane tribe of Native Americans from which
the city takes its name. The first Europeans in the area were representatives
of the Northwest Fur Company who were sent west into Washington from posts in
Idaho in order to facilitate a trading relationship with the local Spokane tribe.
They arrived and set up a fur trading post in 1810, which later became part
of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821.
It wouldn't be until after the Treaty of Oregon was signed in 1846 that
the question of whether the British or the Americans would ultimately own the
land was answered. The first Americans set up a mill in Spokane Falls in 1871,
opening the area for settlement by the patriots. James Glover, in the first
example of the earliest form of commercial mortgage lending in Spokane, bought
this mill and a large parcel of land two years later in preparation for the
arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway and major European settlement in 1881.
For this, Glover would later become known as the Father of Spokane.
The railroad brought in settlers from all over North America and Europe, expanding
the population exponentially in a few short years. The city continued to balloon
despite the Great Fire of 1889 which destroyed most of the commercial district
because of a problem, possibly with the fabricated strainers in the city's
water pumping system. After the fire, the city dropped the term Falls from its
name and re-incorporated as Spokane. Four more railways arrived in short order,
turning Spokane into the principal rail center of the inland Pacific region.
Around 1910, however, the city began to decline because ownership of major
industries was passing to out-of-towners, meaning the capitol wasn't being
re-invested back into Spokane. World War II brought with it increased demands
for Spokane products such as aluminum for heat shrink tubing and airplanes,
which revived the city somewhat. The job was completed by local businessman
King Cole, who spearheaded an effort to turn Spokane over a new leaf by removing
the stain of the failed railroads. He turned old rail yards into parklands and
brought the World's Fair to Spokane in 1974. This environmentally themed
fair would put Spokane on the map.
The 1974 World Fair was the first American fair to be attended by Soviets after
World War II and the first fair to be hosted by such a small city. Development
of the fairgrounds further benefited the city by removing the last traces of
the rail yards and facilitating the construction of several high rises. The
economy was still dependant on logging, silver mining, and farming, however,
which caused it to suffer during the industrial slump of the 1980s. Since then,
Spokane has expanded into science and technology, biosolids applications,
and marketing, which has helped the city to bounce back once again.
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