60 Fun Facts About Spokane

Spokane is the second-most populous city in which US state?

Only Seattle, 280 miles west along I-90, is larger; the metro area has around 605,000 people.

Spokane is known as the birthplace of which national holiday?

The idea was conceived in the city's Central Methodist Episcopal Church during a Mother's Day sermon.

Which Spokane woman started the movement for a national holiday honouring fathers?

The first observance took place in the city on 19 June 1910, after she heard a Mother's Day sermon.

What is Spokane's long-standing unofficial nickname, taken from a flowering shrub?

The shrub flourished after being introduced in the early 20th century, and a festival in May still carries its name.

What is Spokane's official nickname, earned by hosting the world's largest basketball tournament?

The June tournament is a 3-on-3 event that takes over the downtown streets.

What does the name of the Spokane tribe mean in Salishan?

The tribe lived off plentiful game in the area long before the fur traders arrived.

The Spokane House trading post, founded in 1810, was established for which British fur-trading concern?

It was the first enduring European settlement of significance in the future state, and later passed to the Hudson's Bay Company.

Which explorer-geographer sent the trappers who built the 1810 trading post on the Spokane River?

He had already founded the Kullyspell and Saleesh House posts in what are now Idaho and Montana.

Under what name was the city officially incorporated in 1881?

It was reincorporated under its current name in 1891, two years after the Great Fire.

In which year did the Great Fire destroy Spokane's downtown commercial district?

The blaze started just after 6 p.m. on 4 August and wiped out 32 blocks.

Why were firefighters unable to douse the Great Fire when it started?

In desperation they began razing buildings with dynamite to starve the flames.

Which self-taught architect designed much of the rebuilt downtown, including the Davenport Hotel?

He arrived in 1886, designed a chalet for himself while working as a bank teller, and went on to shape the city's Romanesque Revival core.

The Davenport Hotel opened in 1914 with novel technology for its day, including which feature?

The Renaissance and Spanish Revival landmark cost two million dollars and sat vacant for over 20 years before its restoration.

Which world's fair did Spokane host in 1974?

At the time it was the smallest city ever to host a World's Fair.

What was historically notable about the focus of Spokane's 1974 World's Fair?

The fair removed a century of railroad infrastructure from the riverbanks and reinvented the downtown.

The former World's Fair grounds became which 100-acre downtown green space?

The park has views of the falls, a rebuilt gondola skyride and a hand-carved 1909 carousel.

Gonzaga University was founded in 1887 by which religious order?

The Italian-born priest Joseph Cataldo led the founding; the campus includes the childhood home of the city's most famous singer.

Whitworth University, founded in 1890 and moved to Spokane in 1914, is affiliated with which church?

It was originally founded in Tacoma before relocating to north Spokane.

In which year did Gonzaga's men's basketball team reach its first Final Four?

The Zags lost the title game to North Carolina, and returned to the final in 2021 only to fall to Baylor.

Who was promoted from assistant to Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach in 1999?

He took over when Dan Monson left for Minnesota after the 1999 Elite Eight run.

Which NBA all-time assists leader was born and raised in Spokane and stayed home to play for Gonzaga?

He turned down offers from Idaho and Montana to play for Dan Fitzgerald.

Which Hall of Fame Chicago Cubs second baseman was born in Spokane in 1959?

He later managed the Phillies and had his number 23 retired by the Cubs.

Which Spokane-born congressman served as Speaker of the US House from 1989 to 1995?

He was the first sitting Speaker in over a century to lose his own re-election bid; the city's federal courthouse bears his name.

Which legendary crooner was raised in Spokane and has a downtown theater named in his honour?

As a teenager he worked as a property boy at Spokane's Auditorium, where he watched Al Jolson perform.

Which actor, star of Coach and the voice of Mr. Incredible, was born in Spokane in 1944?

Saturday Night Live alumna Julia Sweeney and novelist Sherman Alexie are also from the Spokane area.

Which Spokane-born producer forms half of the hip-hop duo behind The Heist and "Thrift Shop"?

He attended Ferris High School in Spokane before finishing school in Seattle and teaming with Macklemore.

Spokane International Airport's code GEG is a legacy of which former name?

The name was used until 1960; the airport is the second largest in the state.

Which US Air Force unit, the area's largest employer, is based at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane?

The other top employers are the state, the public schools, Sacred Heart Medical Center and the county.

Why does Spokane receive less than half of Seattle's annual rainfall?

The city averages 16.5 inches of precipitation a year against Seattle's 39.3.

What is Spokane's all-time record high temperature?

The record low is minus 30, though days over 100 average only about one a year.

Which tree is the official tree of the City of Spokane?

Botanist David Douglas first collected specimens of the species in the area in 1826.

How long is the Lilac Bloomsday Run, held on the first Sunday of May?

The unusual distance (12.01 km) attracts international competitors as well as tens of thousands of walkers.

What is the nickname of Spokane's Western Hockey League team?

They play at the Spokane Arena and have a fierce rivalry with Tri-City.

How many times has Spokane's junior hockey team won the Memorial Cup?

The wins came in 1991 and 2008.

The Spokane Indians baseball team has been a farm club of which MLB franchise since 2021?

The High-A club plays at a 6,803-seat stadium in Spokane Valley and won the Pacific Coast League as a Triple-A team in 1970.

What is the name of Spokane's men's professional soccer club in USL League One?

The women's USL Super League side, Zephyr FC, shares ONE Spokane Stadium with them.

Which Japanese city became Spokane's first sister city in 1961?

The relationship is celebrated each April with Japan Week and a Japanese garden in Manito Park.

At 288 feet, which is the tallest building in Spokane?

The modernist tower shares the skyline with Art Deco landmarks like City Hall and the Fox Theater.

The historic hand-carved carousel beside the falls downtown was created in 1909 by which carver?

The gondola skyride over the falls is the park's other signature ride.

Which famous landscape firm was hired in 1907 to plan Spokane's park system?

Spokane acquired most of its parkland before World War I and today has more than 87 parks covering 4,100 acres.

Spokane became the county seat in 1886 by taking the title from which town?

The city runs on a mayor-council system with non-partisan elections.

Who was elected Spokane's first African-American mayor in 1981?

After he retired, the city elected its first woman mayor, Vicki McNeil.

Which utility holding company is the only Spokane firm ever to make the Fortune 500?

It ranked 299th in 2002; Itron and Potlatch are Fortune 1000 companies based in the area.

Which labour leader was jailed in the 1909 Spokane free speech fight and wrote about it in the Industrial Worker?

The Wobblies deliberately broke a soapboxing ordinance to protest the job sharks cheating itinerant workers.

James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway arrived in 1892 at a township that became which Spokane neighbourhood?

The rail-yard town was annexed by the city in 1924.

What was Spokane's population at the 2020 census?

The metropolitan area is home to roughly 605,000 people.

The Spokane River rises from which body of water in northern Idaho?

The 111-mile river flows west through downtown, over the falls, and on to join the Columbia.

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, in Browne's Addition, is an affiliate of which institution?

It sits among the mansions of the city's late 19th-century Age of Elegance and holds a large Native American collection.

The Spokane Public Library was founded in 1904 with money from which philanthropist?

The downtown branch overlooks the falls.

What six-day food and free-music festival is held each year on the old World's Fair grounds?

The Lilac Festival and the Interstate Fair are other fixtures on the calendar.

The Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, restored to its 1931 Art Deco glory, is home to which ensemble?

The nearby Metropolitan Performing Arts Center was renamed in 2006 to honour the city's most famous son.

The Division Street Bridge collapse, which killed five people, happened in which year?

The disaster weighed on local morale for years; the replacement bridge itself was replaced in 1994.

Which large 3-on-3 basketball tournament takes over Spokane's streets each June?

It is the reason the city adopted an official basketball nickname.

Which Kirtland Cutter-designed river crossing is featured on the city seal of Spokane?

Cutter's other Spokane works include the Steam Plant, the Spokane Club and the Davenport Hotel.

At roughly what elevation above sea level does Spokane sit?

The city's highest point, near Hillyard on the northeast side, reaches 2,591 feet.

Manito Park's Japanese garden, named for Spokane's sister city, was designed by whom?

The South Hill park also holds the Duncan Gardens, laid out in a classical European Renaissance style.

The Spokane River is a tributary of which larger river?

It runs 111 miles west from Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, and the area's lakes and scablands were carved by the Missoula Floods.

Which neighbourhood west of downtown was Spokane's first prestigious address, full of old mansions?

Its Queen Anne and early Craftsman homes make it a National Historic District with the city's widest variety of residential architecture.

Which city did Spokane eclipse as the commercial centre of the Inland Empire by 1910?

Spokane's population had reached 104,000 by then, boosted by the Coeur d'Alene mining rushes of 1883 to 1892.

At 5,883 feet, what is the highest peak in the county that surrounds the Lilac City?

It rises 5,883 feet on the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains.