Then and Now: Spokane Memorial Coliseum
In 1956, the Marian year Mass brought out the the largest throng of Catholic faithful ever to attend a single Spokane event: 11,000 people, who jammed into every corner of the Spokane Memorial Coliseum and overflowed to the aisles. Firefighters decided it constituted a hazard, but crowds of 6,000 to 8,000 became common in the Coliseum. The Catholic Marian year is when the Pope declares a special time for veneration of the Virgin Mary. (Spokesman-Review archives)
As early as 1912, when the city hit 100,000 residents, Spokane city leaders desired a civic auditorium for important events. Other buildings had filled this niche unofficially over the years. The Auditorium Theater, the National Guard armory, the Masonic Hall, churches and school halls had been used for speeches, boxing matches and concerts.
Many citizens questioned whether the city should operate a potentially money-making venue at all. But all agreed, in the wake of World War I, that the building would be dedicated to the memory of military veterans.
A ballot measure to build an auditorium at the county fairgrounds was voted down in 1930. But the Spokane Auditorium Committee continued to work on the idea. “A municipal auditorium has reached the position of American communal life of being a civic necessity,” wrote E.S. Hennessey of the auditorium committee in 1945.
Two $3 million bond issue proposals, in 1947 and 1948, received the majority of votes but never reached the 60% approval required for bond issues.
A downsized $2 million proposal finally won approval in 1950 and construction began in September 1953. The design incorporated sports facilities.
The Spokane Memorial Coliseum opened Dec. 3, 1954, with a gala symphony concert with hometown girl and Metropolitan Opera star Patrice Munsel.
The new building became part of Spokane daily life, with concerts, hockey and basketball games, graduations, trade shows and religious events. Maxed out, the building seated 8,000 for Liberace and Lawrence Welk in 1955 and ’56.
By the 1980s, the aging “Boone Street Barn,” even with heating and ice-making equipment perilously dilapidated, was important for economic development, filling hotels and restaurants for shows and events.
In 1990, several major concert tours, including ZZ Top, MC Hammer and New Kids On The Block, skipped the Coliseum because it didn’t have 10,000 or more seats. In the late 1980s, the Legislature approved a new public facilities district to levy taxes and build a larger replacement for the Coliseum, and the voters concurred in 1990.
The new Spokane Public Facilities District oversaw construction of the $45 million Spokane Memorial Arena, which opened in 1995.
Today, the PFD operates the Arena, the Spokane Convention Center and the First Interstate Center for the Arts. Construction will begin this year on the Sportsplex, a multi-sport venue designed to host large athletic events.