The
West Central neighborhood was originally homesteaded in 1879 by Colonel
David P. Jenkins. The youngest of eight children from a Quaker family in
Ohio, Jenkins completed law studies in Cincinnati in 1844. Jenkins began a
private law practice in that town following his admission to the bar. He
soon had an office in Illinois, but Jenkins’ law practice was
interrupted when he was commissioned as a major in the First Illinois
Cavalry during the Civil War. Jenkins continued in his military service
after 1862 as a lieutenant colonel, but was discharged upon request three
years later. Following his military service, Jenkins went west to Seattle,
Washington on the suggestion of a military colleague, Indian agent Major
General Millroy. The completion of the Northern Pacific Railway then drew
Jenkins east to Spokane in 1879. Other
businessmen soon followed Jenkins’ example, and by 1890, most of the
area on the northwest bank of the Spokane River had been platted. Some of
these businessmen, such as John D. Sherwood and William Pettet, founders
of the Washington Water Power Company (WWP), and William and William O.
Nettleton, also played a major role in the early development of the West
Central neighborhood. Significant additions which make up the West Central
neighborhood include: Bingaman’s Addition (1883); Jenkins’ Addition
(1883); Ide’s Addition (1883); Ollis Addition (1883); Chandler’s
Addition (1884); Mountain View Addition (1884); Ide & Kaufman’s
Addition (1887); Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd Addition
(1887); Ide’s 3rd Addition (1888); Chamberlin’s Addition
(1889); Ide’s 2nd Addition (1889); Lower Crossing (1889);
Sherwood Addition (1889); Stratton’s Addition (1890); Jenkins’ 2nd
Addition (1900); Natatorium Park (1903); Pettet Tract (1905); and
McCarther’s Addition (1906). By
the late 1890s, elegant homes began to emerge along Summit Boulevard, a
location which offered expansive views of the Spokane River to the west,
Fort George Wright to the north, and Browne’s Addition to the south.
Noted Spokane architects Cutter and Malmgren, Loren L. Rand, W.W. Hyslop,
and others, were commissioned by wealthy Spokane residents to build their
houses. Some of these residents included: “Dutch” Jake
Goetz, a
self-made mining man who upon establishing his fortune in the silver mines
of Idaho, moved to Spokane and opened the Coeur d’Alene Hotel, a variety
theater and gambling hall on North Howard; Harry F. Baer, “Dutch”
Jake’s partner in the Sullivan and Bunker Hill silver mines and the
Couer d’Alene Hotel;
The
early developers of West Central speculated that North Spokane would grow
extensively, and their assessment proved accurate. As new homes were
built, the community services necessary to sustain them grew as well.
Businesses, medical facilities, schools, and churches emerged, further
establishing the neighborhood community and its sense of identity. Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd
Addition William
and William O. Nettleton platted Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd
Additions in 1887, and in the following year, in 1888, the lots went up
for sale. A Spokane Falls Review article boasted that the new addition
would “in time…be as thickly settled as the original townsite,”
adding that “for beauty of situation the Nettleton addition is certainly
unsurpassed.” By 1897, houses began to spring up in Nettleton’s
Addition: “…Nettleton’s additions have begun to look like new grown
western towns. In every direction new roofs are to be seen and the prairie
is broken up with homes that have been erected during the past spring.”
Virtually the entire The
neighborhood additionally provided housing for the emerging middle class
of this rapidly developing city and represented the first ring of suburban
development. Local entrepreneurs utilized promotional mechanisms that
proved successful throughout the country at the time, such as providing
streetcar service to the new suburbs with the Spokane Cable Railway,
developing a recreational area and amusement park that was a streetcar
destination, such as Twickenham Park (later Natatorium Park), providing
financing and architectural pattern books to promote home building, such
as the Ballard Plannery, and offering development and building services,
such as those offered through the Chamberlin Real Estate and Improvement
Company. Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd Additions,
therefore, proved to be an excellent representation of suburban
development trends found throughout the country at the time. While
there is a good representation of Victorian-era Queen Anne and Shingle
style homes, Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd Addition,
much like the rest of the West Central neighborhood, is essentially a
bungalow neighborhood. In addition to the classic one-story front gable or
hipped roof bungalow, both additions also include an extensive collection
of larger two-story bungalows that reflect influences from the Arts and
Crafts Movement and other turn-of-the-century historic revival styles.
This is largely reflective of the work done by two local pattern book
companies, the Chamberlin Real Estate and Improvement Company and the
Ballard Plannery Company, who designed many of the homes found in both
additions. The Chamberlin Company also had a development arm that helped
finance and construct homes in the neighborhood. Many of the 400 homes Because Nettleton’s 1st and 2nd Additions were uniformly platted, many of the homes reflect the designs carried by pattern book companies. Since the neighborhood was essentially developed over a ten-to-fifteen year period, its cohesiveness, relative lack of change through the years, and integrity are ensured as a representative early twentieth century neighborhood.
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City/County
of Spokane Historic Preservation Office e-mail kgriffin@spokanecity.org |
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