Spokane Beginnings: First post office in Spokane opens on July 5, 1872.

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On July 5, 1872, the first post office in Spokane opens. The post office of the place called Spokane (or Spokan) Falls is housed in one of the shacks clustered near the falls of the Spokane River. Spokane is part of Stevens County, out of which Spokane County will be formed in 1879.

Seth R. Scranton was first postmaster. He and James J. Downing built a sawmill along the south bank of the river. At that time, according to Duane Broyles and Howard Ness's Vintage Postcards from Old Spokane, postmasters purchased their own equipment and put the post office wherever they chose, whether in a public place or a home.

Spokane County was formed out of Stevens County on October 30, 1879. In 1891 "Falls" was dropped from Spokane's name.

Sources:
Duane Broyles and Howard Ness with Tony and Suzanne Bamonte, Vintage Postcards from Old Spokane (Spokane: Tornado Creek Publications, 2005), 9-10.

By HistoryLink Staff, January 27, 2006

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Sawmill at Spokane Falls (1872), 1897
Courtesy Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture