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Interesting Facts
- Spokane is a Native American word meaning "Children of the Sun," and was the name of the tribe of Native Americans that used the present day site of Spokane as their summer fishing village during the seasonal spawning run of salmon.
- That's no small feat! A healthy economy, abundant cultural and recreational pursuits, universities, clean air, and an excellent telecommunications infrastructure combine to ensure that Spokane regularly makes the "best of" lists. In fact, Utne Reader calls it one of the "10 Most Underrated Towns" in the country. Men's Health magazine ranked it 16 in its "101 Healthiest Cities" guide, and the AARP put Spokane at #14 on it's list of "15 Top Dream Towns" for retiring baby boomers. It's also the only US city to make Intelligent Community's "Top Seven Intelligent Communities" list for 2003. Even Forbes has listed Spokane as one of the best cities in the country for business.
- Take a deep breath! Spokane is one of only 11 metro areas in the country to earn the American Lung Association's "A" rating for its low ozone pollution. Situated in a high-desert region, the city averages some 260 sunny days annually, and the surrounding Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges save it from the rains you'll find in coastal cities like Seattle and Portland. In fact, according to Custom Weather, Spokane has the second best summer weather in the country, outranked only by Missoula, Montana!
- The legendary crooner Bing Crosby grew up in Spokane and attended Gonzaga College, but was kicked out just short of obtaining his degree for supposedly throwing a piano out of a fourth floor window.
- In 1974, Spokane turned a polluted eyesore into a beautiful 100-acre park that hosted the World's Fair, making Spokane the smallest city ever to host the event.
- In a mere ten year period from 1880 to 1890, Spokane's population grew from 350 people to over 20,000 due to the discovery of silver and lead deposits that established mining as Spokane's main industry.
- Happy fathers Day, Dad! Believe it or not, the first town in the US to honor fathers with an official holiday was Spokane. Housewife Sonora Smart Dodd began lobbying locally for the special day in 1908, as a way to recognize the tremendous accomplishment of her own father, a single parent who successfully raised six children. By 1910, the holiday was "on the books" in Spokane. It took the US Congress 62 years to follow suit.
- ...and all that jazz! The Spokane Jazz Orchestra, incorporated in 1975, is the oldest continually performing community jazz group in the US. Its roots go back to 1962, when a group of local musicians and students formed a "rehearsal band." Today's SJO consists of 17 regular musicians, with additional instrumentalists added on occasion, and has hosted a plethora of guest performers over the years, including Dizzy Gillespie, Della Reese, Diana Krall, and Mel Torme.
- In 1810, the first white settlement in Washington was built on the Spokane River as a fur-trading outpost that became known as the Spokane House.
- In 1889, fire destroyed Spokane's downtown business district, but it was resurrected with all brick buildings that still stand today.
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