100 years ago in Spokane: The city was touting benefits of a Hillyard annexation, for both communities

Spokane would have welcomed Hillyard with open arms if residents voted for annexation.

“Such a move would be of benefit to both cities,” opined the Spokane Daily Chronicle editorial page.

Hillyard would get “better government” than it currently had, with a mayor and city council at each other’s throats. Hillyard would also get better fire protection, police protection and sewer service.

Spokane would immediately leap forward in acreage and population, with about 4,000 new residents entering the fold.

The advantages were so obvious, the editors said, that annexation was all but inevitable.

“If not now, Spokane will wait – the final result is but a matter of time,” the editorial said.

As it turned out, the wait was short. Hillyard voted for annexation in 1924.

From the fire beat: Merchants were optimistic in Burke and Mace, Idaho, despite being wiped out by fire a month earlier.

J.B. Coyne, who ran a women’s ready-to-wear store in Burke, said he had reopened his business in nearby Wallace.

He said both Burke and Mace were rebuilding rapidly.

“We have every reason to believe business will be good this year,” Coyne said.