100 years ago in Spokane: Gonzaga’s new football stadium debuted with a game against Washington State

Gonzaga University’s new 10,000-seat football stadium was dedicated with an elaborate ceremony in advance of the football game with Washington State College.

Attorney Joe Albi “led a parade of soldiers, business men, alumni and students around the field, marking the formal acceptance of it for the college.”

The soldiers, from Fort Wright, carried the U.S. flag. The freshmen class, wearing green caps, came after and were followed by the blue- and white-capped students from other classes.

“Yell leaders for both schools were busy sending the students through their yells,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported. “Members of the Lions Club, seated in the Gonzaga section of the grandstand, were among the most active boosters. They roared loudly through the little yellow megaphones which they carried.”

They yelled in vain. Washington State defeated Gonzaga 10-7.

From the church beat: A “cathedral on railroad wheels” paid a visit to Spokane.

Well, more like a rolling chapel. It was the Catholic “missionary chapel car, St. Peter’s,” a railway coach with all of the facilities of a church, including an organ and confessionals.

It had been donated by a Chicago man and was touring the country, visiting small towns that did not have a Catholic church. It was scheduled to roll into a number of small towns in this diocese.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1964: Martin Luther King Jr. announced as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize