Spokane Parental School
Built not to imprison or punish, but to educate, the Spokane Parental School was an innovation in education and corrections. In 1907, the city board of education authorized the construction of a school for wayward or delinquent boys between the ages of six and fifteen. Before then, there was no such facility for discipline challenged youths, and many were likely to end up in a prison cell. The site of the school was chosen along peaceful Latah creek. Famous local architect Albert Held offered his services for free, providing a Dutch Colonial revival plan for the building itself. Donations were received from all around the city, and in 1908 the school was completed.
Students of the school took advantage of natural features of the area. Canoeing, fishing, and farming all competed for the attention of the students. The troubled youths were even given animals to raise, and land to work. The school was touted as a success for many years. But by 1940, its costs had ballooned, causing some to wish for its closure. In 1943 the school was victim of wartime financial scarcity, and was closed.
The school grounds and outbuildings have since been converted into a housing development. In 2001, a local attorney bought the school with intent on restoration. The Spokane Parental School is currently a private residence. Please show respect and courtesy to its owners.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Convent
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Covent is a landmark of religious history in Spokane. Finished in 1901, the Church was a marvel of Late Gothic Revival architecture. It is build on the grounds that used contain home of Chester Ide, the same man for whom the neighborhood known as Ide’s Addition was to be named after.
In 1890, the Catholic Parish of Spokane County built a wooden framed building on the site of the future St. Joseph’s to facilitate Spokane’s growing Catholic community. Spokane was and still is majority protestant. But waves of immigrants from southern Europe and Ireland were changing the dynamic all across the United States. Spokane was no exception.
By the end of the decade, the buildings had not aged well, and plans for a new church were drawn up. The architectural firm known as Preusse & Zittel, Julius A. Zittel being the official state architect of Washington, offered their services pro-bono. After four months of construction the building was completed on October 27th, 1901. In 1905, a school was added, with the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Scranton, Pennsylvania to take over instruction. In 1908, the structure was again remodeled with even more Gothic Revival architectural influence.
A 1923 fire in the school building damaged the third floor badly, and in 1924, a convent was opened on the property to house the teaching nuns, which was later turned into a Parish Center with classrooms and offices. The original school building was demolished and turned into retirement homes for senior Spokanites. In 1928, a Gymnasium was added to the property across the street, which would be used by the Church until the late 1960s.
St. Joseph’s was only the second Catholic Church built in the city of Spokane, and it served to solidify the relationship between Spokane and the growing Catholic faith. It is still in operation today, and currently offers church services en Español in response to yet another growing Spokane community.
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist
In the 1920s, Bishop Edward Makin Cross endeavored to create a successor to the All Saints Cathedral, which stood Downtown. He contracted the services of congregation member Harold C. Whitehouse. Whitehouse, a veteran architect responsible for many of Spokane's buildings, toured Europe in 1923 doing a study of cathedral design. For St. John's, he settled on an English Gothic style with some French influences.
Bishop Cross selected a vacant lot upon which famous Spokanite Francis Cook's house used to stand. Legend has it that the Episcopal delegation hid their intentions when purchasing the land from the Catholic Cook. The first section of the Church to be built, the Nave leading to the high alter, was completed in late 1929. Ten days after the first mass was held at St. John's, the stock market crashed, sending the country into a long depression. This put an end to the construction for nearly two decades, when the tower, sanctuary and transepts were finally added.
The cathedral's stained-glass windows each tell a different story, from the Book of Genesis to Revelations. To the right of the high alter, the baptism of famous Native American resident Spokane Garry is depicted. The ceiling of the main crossing consists of a pattern of Stars of David, embedded in a material of compressed corn husks. The cathedral's pipe organ stretches from one end of the 257 foot room to the other.
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist has become a landmark of Spokane. Its Gothic tower looks down on the city from the south hill, its style contrasting greatly with the surrounding buildings. After almost a century of construction, the building is still incomplete. Plans for new windows and additions make it certain that this Spokane landmark will continue to grow and evolve.
Washington Street Bridge
In 1908, the Washington Street Bridge was constructed over the Spokane River, to provide an avenue for the rapidly growing city’s population. The 242 feet bridge was constructed by the Wallace-Coates Engineering Company of Chicago. They used a series of ribbed concrete arches for stability. The bridge’s costs inflated a great deal during construction. One Spokane city councilmen reportedly said that if they ever spent that much again, “the council would never be able to bond the city for another dollar for any purpose.” Nevertheless, the bridge was completed in 1909.
In 1910, a group of Spokane businesses offered Harry Houdini an undisclosed cash sum to perform one of his daring magic tricks on the Washington Street Bridge. Houdini reportedly had chains placed around his legs and his hands put in handcuffs, before plummeting to the Spokane River below. Houdini sunk deep into the freezing waters for a moment, before triumphantly arising to the surface unchained. The marketing stunt was a great success, and marks the Washington Street Bridge’s only claim to fame.
The bridge continued in relatively uninterrupted use until the late 1970s, when cracks and holes were discovered in the concrete superstructure. Weight limits and other stopgap measures were proposed, but in the end the decision was made to re-build it entirely, and by 1985 nothing remained of the original structure. Before its demolition, the Washington Street Bridge had the honor of being the oldest concrete bridge in the State of Washington.
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