History

1907 - Spokane Board of Park Commissioners

On June 1, 1907, the newly instituted Spokane Board of Park Commissioners begins its duties with Aubrey Lee White (1869-1948) as president, a position he will hold for the next 15 years. White is the logical choice, having returned in 1906 from a six-year business sojourn in the East during which he has become an expert on the park development of major Eastern cities. While there he has seen land for parks purchased at inflated prices because these cities have not planned ahead. He is determined that Spokane will not make the same mistakes. White proves to be the most zealous among a number of Spokane civic leaders anxious to see the city provide a park within easy walking distance of all its residents.  > Read more
                  Mirror Pond - Manito Park


 

Olmsted Parks in Spokane

Nearly all Spokane's many beautiful parks and parkways were first conceived by a legendary firm in park design and urban planning: the Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects, of Brookline, Massachusetts, of New York's Central Park fame. In 1907, Aubrey L. White (1868-1948), the first president of the young city's new Park Board, was determined to make Spokane into a model of modern park planning. > Read more

 

Olmsted Report

In 1908 the Olmsted Master Plan for Spokane proposed an ambitious development that called for four massive new parks, five smaller local parks, 11 playfields, numerous parkways, and major improvements to 10 existing parks. Many of these recommendations were soon put into effect and by 1913, the city had multiplied its park acreage tenfold. > Read the Report

 

 

Liberty Park

 
Liberty Park was developed per the Olmsted Plan, but in the mid-1960s freeway construction bisected the park. Liberty Park was redeveloped east of its original site. What remains today, north of I-90, is the former West Entrance to Liberty Park at 3rd Avenue and Arthur Street. This area is known as the Liberty Park Ruins. The area contains many of the original basalt walls, stair cases, and view points from an original pergola and a shelter structure. > View map enlarged
 
 
 
Today, many of Spokane’s best-known parks, including Finch Arboretum, High Bridge and Downriver Parks owe their existence to the Olmsted plan. Even pre-existing parks, including Manito Park, owe much of their aesthetic appeal to Olmsted suggestions.
Finch Arboretum's Fall Leaf Festival

World’s Fair Site Becomes Riverfront Park

The Olmsted Brothers even predicted that the City would one day reclaim the downtown riverfront, which in 1974 became the location for Spokane’s World Fair, Expo ’74, on the site known today as Riverfront Park.
        
Downtown Spokane prior to Expo '74
 
 
On May 4, 1974, Spokane’s Expo ’74 World’s Fair opened to the public. For nearly four months Spokane welcomed the world’s visitors when it served as the smallest city at that time to conduct a World’s Fair.  View pictures and souvenirs from this event in the photo album below.
 
 
 


Thirty years later an adventure still awaits at Spokane’s Riverfront Park with year-round rides and attractions for the entire family. The site also serves as a base for major community events and celebrations including Bloomsday, Hoopfest, Fourth of July, Spokane Falls Northwest Indian Encampment & Pow Wow, Unity in the Community and Pig Out in the Park. > Read more about Riverfront Park's History, Arts & Culture
Information used with permission of HistoryLink.org