Tag Archives: Spokane

Let’s Talk About: Vinegar Flats in Spokane

by Donna Phillips


Vinegar Flats – The Keller-Lorenz Vinegar WorksJesse Tinsley crafts a Then And Now column in The Spokesman-Review daily newspaper in Spokane. This bit comes from one of his insightful columns:


In an area that was once a seasonal village of Spokane Indians along Latah Creek, a neighborhood was platted in 1888. It became known as Vinegar Flats because of the tangy aroma from a vinegar production plant that opened in 1889……. The Keller-Lorenz Vinegar Company made cider and vinegar and sold the product to stores in bottles or to wholesalers in barrels…. the company grew rapidly and in 1912 the company used 15,000 tons of apples from Spokane’s orchards to make 225,000 gallons of cider and 5,000 gallons of vinegar…. their two primary products were pickling vinegar, made from barley malt and molasses, and apple vinegar which starts as cider…… eight men worked full time at the plant with up to 14 more added seasonally….. 

“When the factory began operations in 1890, vinegar was especially important for the preservation of a variety of foods. In an era before household refrigeration, pickling in vinegar was a common method of preserving fruits and vegetables. The Vinegar Works operated in the three-story building at 11th Avenue and Spruce Street until 1958 producing cider, malt, and white wine vinegar. It wasn’t until the 1930s that refrigerators became commonplace and the need for pickling foods became less important. This new era of both commercial and domestic refrigeration, coupled with better roads for transportation, meant that factories like the Keller -Lorenz Vinegar Works eventually went out of business.”

 Next time you drive south to Pullman from Spokane on Hwy 195, sniff the air. It just might smell a bit tangy still. 

Let’s Talk About: Spokane’s Bridge

by Donna Phillips

Likely when you think of “Spokane River bridges” your mind jumps to the iconic Monroe Street Bridge, first built in 1911.

But would you have guessed there are nearly 40 bridges spanning a river only 111 miles long? Originating in Lake Coeur d’Alene, the river meanders through the Spokane Valley to empty into the Columbia River. Those are current bridges and don’t count the many that were built and then washed away. 

It had been long realized and known that a bridge was needed to cross the Spokane River in the downtown area. Between 1890 and 1896 several bridges were constructed but all fell prey to The River. Finally in 1902, realizing that timber for such a bridge would not do, the bridge pretty much as we see it today was completed and dedicated on 21 Nov 1911 at a cost of $477,682.67.  (SUCH precise accounting!) 

The biggest problem facing construction of the Monroe Street Bridge was the south side where after the great fire of 1889 tons of the ash and debris were pushed over and deposited there…. making for a very unstable bridge footing. The ash and debris was dumped atop a small stream which continued to flow and be a continual problem. 

On May 4, 1892, Miss Mary Winitch gained fame by becoming the first pedestrian of record to cross the bridge. (I did several minutes of research on Miss Mary but found nothing.)

QUESTION: How many times would you guess you have walked over….. or driven over….. the Monroe Street Bridge?

SOURCE:  The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 28k Winter 1984, article by Byron Barber.

Let’s Talk About….. Expo ’74

by Donna Phillips



Did you attend Expo ’74 in Spokane? Do you realize that that was 50 years ago? I expect that there will be many activities and celebrations marking that anniversary during the coming year. 

How did Expo ’74 get started? And how come in Spokane?

A little booklet titled Spokane: Background to Expo ’74 by Dr. William B. Merriam, Professor Emeritus at WSU, provided lots of background to answer those questions.

In the early 1960s, Spokane began to undergo a change from a perceived “overgrown country town” into a city with the civic leadership, the resources, the courage and imagination to conceive and stage an Expo ’74. 

Through the 60s and into the 70s, plans to “make Spokane better” were snowballing. River bank beautification was a top priority. Back in 1913, the Olmstead Brothers had offered to design a Great Gorge Park to extend from the city center past the then Natatorium Park and Fort Wright. Obviously, their proposal was never acted upon. But rediscovered their report, and reading their words, helped push Expo ’74 along: “Nothing is so firmly impressed on the mind of the visitor to Spokane as the great gorge into which the river falls near the center of the city. The city should preserve what beauty and grandeur remains of its river gorge.” 

All the ideas, thoughts and plans came together by 1973 when promotion and construction feverishly began. Much demolition was required along with re-designing and landscaping. 

“By spring of 1974, Spokane was set for the opening, on time, of the biggest event in the city’s history…. Expo’74…conceived, planned, promoted and constructed in record time.”

Do you have a memory from Expo ’74 that you’d be willing to share? If so, let me know, please. My memory is of our 7-year-old son getting lost in the crowds and finding him, in tears,  being held and soothed by a handsome Black man who was selling cotton candy on the Washington street bridge.