Thirst for More: A Negative Nancy's Analysis of a Good Read.

            As we discussed last week in class, the intended audience for this book is realtors, or anyone interested in Spokane real estate, and it was even more apparent in the second half. Even with this observation in mind, it was a good read, but left me wanting more. My favorite part was Chapter 5. The park system is a unique feature to Spokane’s infrastructure and important to the community, even in its beginnings. I find it interesting that the donation of the land “was clearly a serious conflict of interest with an illegal donative intent to the land owners, it proved to be quite popular with many of the town’s successful developers” (165). I am still not familiar with all of the parks and recreation areas and it made me want to drive around the city to discover what they had to offer.

Manito Park circa 1905-1907 (courtsey of discovery-school.org)

            The next chapter went though the history of Spokane’s architecture. Though I am not by any means an expert in architecture, in all of the pictures the Bamontes used, the houses were a similar square cottage-like structure, just different sizes and ornamentation. I am glad they decided to start with the native dwellings, though short and very generalized.

            Another part I enjoyed was Chapter 7, which describes the different homes of Spokane’s wealthy. Partly because I am envious of their rich lifestyle and houses, but I especially enjoyed the pictures in this chapter. However, I was left wanting to know more about the people who lived inside them as well as how the other half lived. It was also interesting to hear about other famous architects of early Spokane, besides Kirkland Cutter, but the authors did not really expand on the impact of their work on the development of the city, they just discussed certain buildings they designed.

            The old ads in Chapter 9 were very interesting and I hope we are able to find some like that for our ghost signs. Again though, it left me wanting more. They hardly discussed the ads, mostly just reprinting them.

            Since I’m being such a Negative Nancy this entire post, I guess I should end on a positive note. I did enjoy the read and the obvious effort put into their research is impressive. Even if the authors did not take it as far as I was hoping, it serves as motivation for continued research and analysis. This will be a great resource for local history on Spokane.