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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Jesse Tinsley

Jesse Tinsley

Current Position: photojournalist

Jesse Tinsley joined The Spokesman-Review in 1989. He currently is a photojournalist in the Photo Department covering daily news and shoots drone photography.

Email
jesset@spokesman.com
Phone
(509) 459-5378

All Stories

News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Parkade Plaza

Fidelity Mutual Savings erected their new eight-story building at Howard Street and Riverside Avenue in 1953. A few years later, some smaller buildings north of the bank were torn down around 1957, and Fidelity added north-facing retail spaces, calling the area Fidelity Plaza.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Spokane Valley Rosauers

As a teen, Joseph Merton Rosauer worked in the store his parents operated in East Spokane in the 1920s and early 1930s. At 19 years old, “Mert” Rosauer borrowed $1,000 from his parents and opened his own store on East Sprague Avenue.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Parking meters

Paying for parking in downtown Spokane was controversial from the beginning. Customers of downtown establishments resented paying to leave their cars on the street while merchants acknowledged that it could discourage shoppers.

Then and Now: Post Falls bridge collapse

It was almost midnight on March 27, 1971, when police dispatch in Post Falls called Officer Harry Button to the Spokane Street bridge over the Spokane River for an accident. Button had been Post Falls fire chief from 1957 to 1960 and a fire commissioner before becoming a police officer. Riding along with Button was Allan Chaffin, who was disabled but worked as a volunteer dispatcher for the fire department.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Vinegar Flats

In an area that was once a seasonal village of Spokane Indians along Latah Creek, a neighborhood was platted as Stafford’s Addition in 1888. But it became better known as Vinegar Flats because of the tangy aroma from a vinegar production plant that opened in 1889.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: 1957 Christmas parade

Police estimated there were 10,000 children lined along the route of the Christmas parade Nov. 22, 1957. It was one of the largest crowds seen in downtown Spokane that year.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Barker Road Bridge

In 1892, young civil engineer Byron C. Riblet recommended that the Spokane Board of County Commissioners accept the bid from the San Francisco Bridge Company for a new steel bridge over the Spokane River at Barker Road. Riblet would become a renowned innovator in mining, railroads and other industries.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Interstate 90 connections

During the 20 years it took to build and complete Interstate 90 through Spokane to the Idaho border, progress was sometimes slow, fraught with challenging excavation project and elevated bridges. Once complete, traffic volume grew rapidly.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Annual turkey giveaway

Many churches and charities have offered free turkey dinners at Thanksgiving, but the tradition of giving away food baskets with a frozen turkey and groceries is only about 40 years old.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Spokane Valley Freeway

Even before the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 created the funding mechanism for a national highway system, the Washington State Department of Transportation was already working on improving the U.S. Highway 10 corridor through Spokane with its replacement.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Spokane Interstate Fair

Spokane has had various organizations putting on annual fairs. The first was put on by the Washington and Idaho Fair Association in 1886 in Corbin Park. These continued in 1887 and 1888.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Piggly Wiggly warehouse

The 1920s were a turbulent time in the world of grocery stores across the country. Self-service grocery stores were new, originating with the Piggly Wiggly chain that began in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1916, founded by Clarence Saunders. The new style store was called a “groceteria,” a play on the word “cafeteria,” a self-service restaurant that was also new at the time.
News >  Washington

Then and Now: Dishman fire of 1951

Early on Thursday, July 19, 1951, a fire broke out in a line of business buildings in Dishman, an unincorporated business district a few miles east of the Spokane city limits.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Medical Center Building

Construction on the Medical Center Building at 9th Avenue and McClellan Street near Sacred Heart Hospital began in 1946 but wasn’t fully completed until 1948. Plans by architect George M. Rasque were for 52,000 square feet of floor space to house 60-70 physicians and about 12 dentists. The $500,000 structure, often called the Southside Medical Center Building to distinguish it from similar names, was equipped with air conditioning.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: West Valley High School

Though the city of Spokane grew rapidly from its founding in the 1870s, the Spokane Valley area was mostly rural with unincorporated settlements at the turn of the 20th century. As the rural areas expanded, small school districts were formed to build schools that focused on lower grade levels. The first two districts were Trent and Vera, quickly followed by Orchard Park and Otis Orchards. Before the 1910, none of them went beyond the eighth grade.
News >  Washington

Then and Now: Interstate 90 through Spokane

The federal government began funding roads as early as 1916, with states providing most of the funding. Standards for road design varied widely and many long highways were only two lanes wide. But the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration led the proposal to create a nationwide system of limited access, multi-lane highways to promote commerce and for national defense. This became the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. The northern East-West highway, Interstate 90, would connect Seattle to Boston.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Old Union Stockyards

The annual Junior Livestock Show at the Spokane Fair and Expo Center is the legacy of Spokane’s livestock history. Started in 1936, the show honors the top farm animals raised by members of 4-H clubs and the Future Farmers of America. The animals are then sold to help continue the program, which is now operated by a nonprofit group. It’s a reminder of the stockyards that were once nearby.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: True’s Oil Company

Lorenzo L. True was born around 1844 and grew up in Pennsylvania. He and his wife arrived in Spokane in 1899, and he began working in the petroleum supply business. He founded True’s Oil Company around 1900, focusing on sourcing and delivering heating oil before moving to fuels for internal combustion engines.