Spokane Discovers - "Free" Parks Are Expensive

Last week, in our continuing series on the founding of Manito Park, we learned of the gift of the 400 acre park to the city of Spokane and the conditions connected therewith from the donors.  Today, we continue the story and learn about the plans the city put in place to meet their obligations of the gift with respect to the water they were to provide for the park and the surrounding neighborhood. 

According to the book “Manito Park:  A Reflection of Spokane’s Past”, by Tony Bamonte and Suzanne Schaeffer Bamonte of www.tornadocreekpublications.com:

A 50,000 gallon water tower was constructed at 14^th and Grand, but it soon became evident that a larger capacity tower was needed.  In 1908 the first tower was replaced with the existing 200,000 gallon tower.  The streets were a more challenging matter.  In 1907 newspaper headlines read, “GREAT PARK IS IN DANGER, City’s Title to Beautiful Tract at Manito Has Not Been Protected – Much Money Spent – Conditions Not Fulfilled” and “CITY DID NOT KEEP PLEDGE – Will Donors Ask Forfeiture of Park?...”  The reality of what eh conditions were costing the city was now apparent.  Eventually waivers were filed in 1911 by the original donors relieving the city of the obligation to build 50-foot wide streets around the park. 

The following year, J. P. Graves offered another sizeable donation of land for a park, this time in Spokane’s north end.  It was also accompanied by a list of conditions.  On July 11, 1912, the park board politely declined Graves’s offer unless he would remove the contingencies.  Four days later, Graves withdrew his offer.  In spite of the related costs, Spokane is fortunate to have had individuals with the foresight and means to donate private land for its beautiful parks.   Aubrey L. White (discussed later) had a vision of a park within walking distance of every neighborhood and was instrumental in securing the land for many of Spokane’s parks.  In 1918 a Spokesman Review article boasted that Spokane “leads all other large cities in the United States in park acreage per each thousand population.”    However, one can conclude that in many cases, the donation of park land was not totally altruistic acts by the donors, who wished to enhance the value of their vast tracts of real estate.

Click over next week and we’ll hear about another of Spokane’s parks, Cliff Park.