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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: 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.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Dodge City dealership

Dodge City, the auto dealership at 920 W. Second Ave. was moved there by owner Clay S. Bleck in the early 1960s. He was born in Spokane but grew up in Portland. His father, Alfred H. Bleck, had been a sales manager at Eldridge Buick in Spokane in the early 1920s before building his own dealership in Portland. The younger Bleck served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as captain of a landing craft that saw action in Saipan, the Philippines, New Guinea, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. After his service, he attended Stanford University and studied economics and political science.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Trade Winds Motel

The Trade Winds Motel opened on Third Avenue in 1962, coinciding with the popularity of South Seas -themed kitsch and a boom in motel building around Spokane.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Grand Coulee Dam

In the depths of the Great Depression, Spokane celebrated the start of the largest single-government construction project undertaken in the United States.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Dishman Theater

The Dishman Theater opened in October 1938 with a capacity of 516. The opening night film was “Having Wonderful Time” and starred Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
News >  Spokane

Then and Now: Getting to Expo ‘74

Al Hunter, travel director of the Washington State Department of Commerce and Economic Development, said the 1974 world’s fair would be a major travel attraction for Washington, and an estimated 5 million visitors would find their way to Spokane by riding buses, trains, airplanes and private cars in spite of the uncertainties of gasoline shortages of that era.