Spokane, Washington | |
|---|---|
 Logo | |
| Nickname: The Lilac City | |
| Motto: Creative by Nature | |
    | |
| Coordinates: 47°39′32″N 117°25′30″W / 47.65889°N 117.42500°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | Spokane |
| Founded | 1873[1] |
| Incorporated | November 29, 1881 |
| Founded by | James N. Glover[1] |
| Named for | Spokane people |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| • Body | Spokane City Council |
| • Mayor | Lisa Brown (D)[2] |
| Area | |
• City | 69.50 sq mi (179.99 km2) |
| • Land | 68.76 sq mi (178.09 km2) |
| • Water | 0.74 sq mi (1.91 km2) 1.28% |
| Elevation | 1,843 ft (562 m) |
| Population | |
• City | 228,989 |
• Estimate (2022)[5] | 230,160 |
| • Rank | US: 97th WA: 2nd |
| • Density | 3,300/sq mi (1,300/km2) |
| • Urban | 447,279 (US: 90th) |
| • Urban density | 2,605.4/sq mi (1,006.0/km2) |
| • Metro | 600,292 (US: 96th) |
| • CSA | 785,302 (US: 70th) |
| Demonym | Spokanite |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP Codes | Zip codes[6] |
| Area code | 509 |
| Official tree | Ponderosa Pine |
| GNIS feature ID | 1512683[7] |
| Website | my.spokanecity.org |
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Spokane (/spoʊˈkæn/ spoh-KAN)[8] is the most populous city in and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, 92 miles (148 km) south of the Canadian border, 18.5 miles (30 km) west of the Washington–Idaho border, and 279 miles (449 km)[9] east of Seattle, along Interstate 90.
Spokane is the economic and cultural center of the Spokane metropolitan area, the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area, and the Inland Northwest. It is known as the birthplace of Father's Day, and locally by the nickname of "Lilac City".[10] Officially, Spokane goes by the nickname of Hooptown USA, due to Spokane's annual hosting of the Spokane Hoopfest, the world's largest basketball tournament.[11] The city and the wider Inland Northwest area are served by Spokane International Airport, 5 miles (8 km) west of Downtown Spokane, which is located near another airfield at Fairchild Air Force Base. According to the 2010 census, Spokane had a population of 208,916,[12] making it the 2nd-most populous city in Washington,[13] and the 97th-most populous city in the United States.[14] At the 2020 census, Spokane's population was 228,989.[4] A 2023 estimate sets the population of the metropolitan area at 600,292.[15]
The first people to live in the area, the Spokane tribe (their name meaning "children of the sun" in Salishan), lived off plentiful game. David Thompson explored the area with the westward expansion and establishment of the North West Company's Spokane House in 1810. This trading post was the first long-term European settlement in Washington. Completion of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1881 brought many settlers from America to the Spokane area. The same year it was officially incorporated as a city under the name of Spokane Falls (it was re-incorporated under its current name ten years later).[16] In the late 19th century, gold and silver were discovered in the Inland Northwest. The local economy depended on mining, timber, and agriculture until the 1980s. Spokane hosted the first environmentally themed World's fair at Expo '74.
Many of the downtown area's older Romanesque Revival-style buildings were designed by architect Kirtland Kelsey Cutter after the Great Fire of 1889. The city is also home to the Riverfront and Manito parks, the Smithsonian-affiliated Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, the Davenport Hotel, and the Fox and Bing Crosby theaters.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist serves as that of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. The Spokane Washington Temple in the east of the county serves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gonzaga University was established in 1887 by the Jesuits, and the private Presbyterian Whitworth University was founded three years later and moved to north Spokane in 1914.
In sports, the region's professional and semi-professional sports teams include the Spokane Indians in Minor League Baseball. The Spokane Chiefs in the Western Hockey League. The Spokane Velocity in USL League One with a women's first division team Spokane Zephyr FC in USL Super League. The Gonzaga Bulldogs collegiate basketball team competes at the Division I level. As of 2010, Spokane's major daily newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, had a daily circulation of over 76,000.
- ^ a b "Spokane History". City of Spokane. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ Simchuk, Kyle. "Lisa Brown sworn in as Spokane's next mayor". KREM. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
- ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
QF2020was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
USCensusEst2022was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Zip Code Lookup". United States Postal Service. Archived from the original on January 1, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- ^ "Spokane". Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "Seattle, Washington to Spokane, Washington - Google Maps".
- ^ Prager, Mike (April 24, 2008). "A designer bloom for Lilac City". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
- ^ Tiernan, Colin (June 8, 2021). "Slam dunk nickname: City Council designates Spokane "Hooptown USA"". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
- ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts - Population, Census, April 1, 2010 - Spokane city, Washington".
- ^ "Census.gov: Rank by 2010 Population and Housing Units: 2000 and 2010" (PDF).
- ^ "Census.gov: Rank of Places of 100,000 or More by 2010 Population: 1790 to 2010; and Number of Housing Units: 1940 to 2010" (PDF).
- ^ "Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals: 2020-2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
- ^ Laura Arksey (October 3, 2009), "Spokane Falls (later renamed Spokane) is incorporated as a first-class city on November 29, 1881.", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink,
The original Act of Incorporation spelled the city's name correctly, but the territorial printing office incorrectly spelled it Spokan Falls, a phonetic spelling that was used elsewhere during the period, including on the 1880 census. This spelling was also used for Spokane's first newspaper, the Spokan Times.