Promotional Flight
During the summer and early fall of 1927, soon after returning from his historic solo flight across the Atlantic, aviator Charles Lindbergh traveled the country in the Spirit of St. Louis, promoting aviation and the building of airports. He made two stops here in Washington, as well as many low-altitude flyovers of cities along his route.
Lindbergh first stopped in Spokane, where he landed at Parkwater Aviation Field (later Felts Field) on September 12. After a speech at the Interstate Fairgrounds, he was whisked to the Davenport Hotel, where a banquet was given in his honor. It had been hoped that Lindbergh's visit would coincide with the National Air Derby and Air Races, but that event was held later, during the week of September 21. Nevertheless, "Lucky Lindy" wished the promoters great success, which they eventually did enjoy.
The following morning, Lindbergh took off heading for Seattle on a meandering route that brought him over Walla Walla, Pasco, and Yakima. After crossing the Cascades at Naches Pass, Lindbergh flew low over Enumclaw, Auburn, and Renton before reaching Seattle, where more than 25,000 people were waiting at the University of Washington Stadium. He landed at the nearby Sand Point Naval Air Station (image courtesy MOHAI) and was taken to the stadium by boat. After giving a speech, he and Mayor Bertha Landes traveled by car to Volunteer Park, where the aviation hero was greeted by 30,000 schoolchildren. From there he went to the Olympic Hotel for another honorary banquet.
Lindbergh took off from Sand Point the next morning and flew over Georgetown, where Boeing Field would open the following year. From there he flew back over Renton, where he dropped leaflets promoting aviation, and then headed to Portland. On the way he performed low-level flyovers of Tacoma, Fort Lewis, Aberdeen, Centralia, and Chehalis.
Farmers Unite
On September 10, 1889, the Washington State Grange was founded at the Pioneer Store in Camas. Born out of objections to the proposed state constitution, the organization became a driving force for many social, economic, and political reforms, including a state income tax, which passed in 1932 but was voided on September 8, 1933, by the state supreme court.
The Grange also championed the blanket primary election, which Washington adopted in 1935. The popular blanket primary remained in place for nearly seventy years until the courts voided it as well; the Grange responded with an initiative establishing the state's current top-two primary, which voters approved in 2004.
