Banner Megan 2

 

The Project

 

Riverfront Park has served as a meeting location, event space, and downtown destination since its inception in the 1970s. Now, over 40 years after its creation following Expo ‘74, an extensive revitalization and rehabilitation effort is underway by the City of Spokane’s Parks and Recreation Department to bring new life to this local landmark. The 100 acre area covered by the park has a long and varied history; from its beginnings as open and rocky land traditionally utilized by the Native American tribes of the region; to a bustling railroad hub in the 1920s; and now as an open green escape from the surrounding city. Evidence of this diverse past may still lie beneath the grassy expanses of Riverfront Park, possibly in areas where construction and improvements are set to take place. Members of the Fort Walla Walla Museum’s Heritage Research Services (FWWM) and the Spokane Tribe of Indian’s Preservation Program (STIPP) were called in to complete an extensive survey and investigation of the park and its history, covering an area reaching from the park lands on the north bank of the river to the southern edge of the park along Spokane Falls Boulevard and from Post Street to the west and Washington Street to the east. The report generated from this intensive work is a tool that can now be used to help identify and understand pieces of the past that may resurface during the revitalization process and was the basis for the information included in this website.

logo

 

Timeline

Explore the development of the Riverfront Park area through some of the major events and changes of the last two centuries!

History