Then and now: Montgomery Ward warehouse

In 1937, the Northern Pacific railway announced construction of three new warehouse structures in East Spokane. It was the Great Depression, and T.A. Murphy, General Agent of the Northern Pacific, was happy to announce that the three new buildings, built by the NP and leased back to International Harvester, Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery Ward, “will mean a total expenditure of $550,000 and provide work for 300 men for several months.” The railroad had spent $90,000 buying up and clearing land around their track corridor to complete the project.

Section:Gallery

Mon., Sept. 21, 2020

1938: Looking northwest over East Spokane, south of the Spokane River and east of Division Street, shows the undeveloped area with a complex of train tracks of the Northern Pacific, foreground, the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road, middle of the photo, and the Great Northern, at top, along the riverfront, before the building of the Montgomery Ward warehouse. Buildings still in existence today include the Jensen-Byrd warehouse at far left, and the Schade brewery at far right.

The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive
Present day: Prominent in the foreground is the 320-foot-by-198-foot Montgomery Ward single-story warehouse built in 1938 and used by the mail-order giant until 1968. Today it contains the WSU Spokane bookstore, along with classroom and meeting space, in the middle of the University District, an alliance of universities, the city, landowners and businesses who have created an education, business and residential neighborhood in the area that was home to three major railroad corridors.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review