The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
54°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Then and Now: Tull Block razed for Paulsen Building

<b>1888:</b> The Tull Block, right, is pictured before the Great Fire of 1889. It was built by Francis Marion Tull, who moved to Spokane Falls in 1887. After the fire, Tull replaced the building with a five-story structure version. Photo courtesy of Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room. (Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room courtesy)
1888: The Tull Block, right, is pictured before the Great Fire of 1889. It was built by Francis Marion Tull, who moved to Spokane Falls in 1887. After the fire, Tull replaced the building with a five-story structure version. Photo courtesy of Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room. (Spokane Public Library, Northwest Room courtesy)

Francis Marion Tull, born in 1853, was a striking figure: 6 six feet tall, muscular and usually decked out in a derby hat and gold-topped cane. People said he looked like “some punkins,” slang for a well-to-do dandy.

He blew into Spokane Falls from Kansas in 1887 with enough money to give James Glover $10,000 for his home site on the southeast corner of Riverside Avenue and Stevens Street. Glover told friends that the newcomer was a “sucker” for paying such a price. Tull put up a three-story brick building the following year, which was then appraised at more than $80,000.

Tull’s building and many others “went down like children’s playhouses” during the Great Fire of 1889, despite their brick construction. Tull started over, racing to claim the bragging rights of first to rebuild and rent space to anxious business owners working out of tents pitched along Riverside. His was the third building completed, partly because he increased the size to five stories and included a large music hall, used for both prizefights and religious gatherings.

During some upheaval in city politics, Tull served as mayor for a week. During the financial panic of 1893, the bank started to foreclose on Tull’s properties. Around the same time, Tull’s wife, Lucy Ann, died. Lawyers for the two adult children argued in bankruptcy court that the kids had a right of inheritance for half of their father’s holdings by virtue of their late mother. This led to a landmark case for children’s property rights in 1904.

Tull left for Oklahoma to seek new fortunes in 1903 and his properties were sold off. Fresh from a successful silver strike in 1901, a miner named August Paulsen bought the Tull building, tore it down and put up the Paulsen Building in 1911.

Tull died in 1931 and his body was returned to Spokane for burial. One of his sons, Perry, was also a successful businessman in the city and operated furniture and dry goods stores.

—Jesse Tinsley