Lilac City Wanderers of Spokane

09/18/2025

Good bye summer… ❤️

09/15/2025

Spokanes 1st Cemetery in Brownes addition

Forgotten Cemeteries Beneath Browne's Addition
Before the neighborhood was platted in the 1880s, the land was used for multiple burials over generations. Indigenous communities, Chinese immigrants, and early pioneers all laid their dead to rest in what is now residential blocks and commercial lots. One particularly haunting site is the Rosauer's parking lot, which was once home to Chinese cemeteries. When the area was developed, the ground was reshaped with little regard for those buried there, and many graves were left undisturbed but unmarked.

I came across this article while researching area graveyards… I had no Idea that Spokanes First cemetery was located in Brownes Addition! The pics are of an article in the Spokesman Review dated May 28th 1897

09/14/2025

Mondovi WA

Mondovi, Washington, was named in 1881 by Elihu B. Gifford, who had traveled from Wisconsin to the area in 1878 and later established a post office in the Lincoln County settlement.

09/14/2025

We discovered this super cool old windmill yesterday while wandering around Mondovi Washington. We had no idea that there was writing on it until we blew up the pic. We came across alot of news articles about a Mr.Grim from Spokane who restores old windmills… I wonder if this is one of his projects🤔
It reads: Hughes & Co. Spokane Wa
Hughes and Company, established in 1894, began as a heating and plumbing supply business in Spokane, Washington.. The building that housed this business sits at 119 S. Howard in downtown Spokane.

09/14/2025

ERECTED TO THE EXPLORERS, FUR TRADERS,
MISSIONARIES, SOLDIERS, AND PIONEERS
WHO MADE AN INDIAN TRAIL THE COLVILLE WALLA WALLA -1811
EASTERN WASHINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

We discovered another roadside monument for the Colville/Walla Walla Road along highway 2 near Reardon tonight.
Fort Colville Road -1811
from a Native American trail into a formal military road in Spokane:


Long before European settlers arrived, the path that became Fort Colville Road was part of an extensive network of Indigenous trails weaving through the Inland Northwest. These trails connected villages, seasonal camps, and trade centers, guiding Native peoples through the rich landscapes of the Spokane region with deep familiarity and purpose.

In the early 19th century, the Hudson’s Bay Company adopted these trails for its fur trade operations, establishing posts like Spokane House and Fort Colvile near Kettle Falls. Their brigade routes followed Indigenous corridors, adapting and expanding them for the demands of trade and travel. When the Oregon Treaty of 1846 placed the territory under U.S. control, the military recognized the importance of these established routes. In 1859, Brevet Major Pinkney Lugenbeel was tasked with building Fort Colville to protect settlers and resources. His efforts formalized and improved the trail, creating what became known as the Fort Walla Walla–Fort Colville Military Road, a critical supply and communication line.

This transformation from trail to road was more than infrastructure—it marked a shift in land use, sovereignty, and the unfolding of regional history. While modern roads now overlay much of this route, the legacy of Fort Colville Road remains as a thread connecting Indigenous heritage, colonial enterprise, and the militarized shaping of Spokane’s landscape.

09/14/2025

We discovered another roadside monument for the Colville/Walla Walla Road along highway 2 near Reardon tonight.
Fort Colville Road -1811
from a Native American trail into a formal military road in Spokane:


Long before European settlers arrived, the path that became Fort Colville Road was part of an extensive network of Indigenous trails weaving through the Inland Northwest. These trails connected villages, seasonal camps, and trade centers, guiding Native peoples through the rich landscapes of the Spokane region with deep familiarity and purpose.

In the early 19th century, the Hudson’s Bay Company adopted these trails for its fur trade operations, establishing posts like Spokane House and Fort Colvile near Kettle Falls. Their brigade routes followed Indigenous corridors, adapting and expanding them for the demands of trade and travel. When the Oregon Treaty of 1846 placed the territory under U.S. control, the military recognized the importance of these established routes. In 1859, Brevet Major Pinkney Lugenbeel was tasked with building Fort Colville to protect settlers and resources. His efforts formalized and improved the trail, creating what became known as the Fort Walla Walla–Fort Colville Military Road, a critical supply and communication line.

This transformation from trail to road was more than infrastructure—it marked a shift in land use, sovereignty, and the unfolding of regional history. While modern roads now overlay much of this route, the legacy of Fort Colville Road remains as a thread connecting Indigenous heritage, colonial enterprise, and the militarized shaping of Spokane’s landscape.

09/13/2025

Found this cool Derail marker, while wandering around the south hills Cannon addition today🤗

09/13/2025

The Spokesman-Review Building, also known as the Review Tower, was constructed in 1891 in Spokane following the devastating city fire of 1889. Designed by architect Chauncey B. Seaton in the Romanesque Revival style, the six-story brick building featured terra cotta details and an irregular lot shape that made it architecturally unique. Originally housing The Spokane Falls Review, the building was large enough to accommodate two newspapers and even the Hotel Review.
After fierce competition with the rival
Spokesman paper, the two merged in 1893 to form The Spokesman-Review. Despite financial challenges during the Panic of 1893, W.H. Cowles took control, turning the paper into Spokane's leading news outlet and establishing a lasting civic influence. For a decade, the Review Tower was Spokane's tallest building and remains an iconic symbol of the city's resilience and media

09/12/2025

The Govan Schoolhouse, built in 1905 and closed in 1942, stands as a haunting relic in the ghost town of Govan, Washington, once a bustling railroad community fueled by a nearby sandbank used for railroad construction. The town saw rapid growth with homes, businesses, and this two-teacher school, but its history is marred by tragedy, including a notorious axe murder in nearby Almira in 1902 and fires in the 1920s and 1974, along with a highway bypass in 1933, led to the town's decline.
Today, the schoolhouse remains a popular spot for ghost hunters and photographers, despite its decay and recent steeple collapse, symbolizing the eerie beauty of a town lost to time, with just a handful of residents still calling Govan home.

09/12/2025

Spokane WA❤️

09/09/2025

Jacques Raphael Finlay 1768-1828
Jacques Raphael Finlay, often called Jaco or Jacco, was a Métis trailblazer whose legacy is etched into the early history of the Pacific Northwest. Born in 1768 to a Scottish fur trader and a Chippewa mother, Finlay became a skilled scout, interpreter, and builder for the North West Company and later the Pacific Fur Company. He played a pivotal role in establishing Spokane House in 1810—the first permanent European settlement in what is now Washington State
—where he was later buried beneath the Old Bastion. Known for his deep knowledge of the land and its peoples, Finlay guided explorers like David Thompson across rugged terrain, built trading posts, and defended them with quiet resolve. His descendants still live across regional tribal communities, and his story remains a cornerstone of Spokane's frontier mythology.

09/09/2025

The concrete bison skulls on the Monroe street bridge in Spokane WA.,are a replica of a skull found by an early settler here named Patrick C Shine, while traveling in Alberta Canada. They were put on the bridge to represent our ties to our western heritage and to the early pioneers who founded this beautiful city.