This day in history: Spokane park officials converted old home at Cannon Hill Park into ‘indoor playbround’ with pool and other games

From 1974: About 50 people showed up for a public hearing on noise pollution, and the crowd became, well, noisy.

Several people spoke in opposition to a set of noise limits proposed by the Washington Department of Ecology.

A spokesman for a general contractors’ association requested that all construction activities be exempt. People representing area racetracks also asked that auto racing be exempt.

One woman said she was simply opposed to “most forms of government control.”

Many in the crowd at the Washington Water Power Auditorium supported the proposed noise limits. One man said he wanted even stricter limits on motorcycles, “one of the worst noise problems in the community.”

The proposed rules already had exemptions for a wide variety of activities, including railroad trains, carillons and blasting.

From 1924: An “indoor playground” experiment at Cannon Hill Park proved to be a massive success.

The Park Board owned an old house at the park, and it had converted it into a play area with three pool tables and “carom boards.”

The games were going “full blast” all afternoon and evening. The park’s playground supervisor said the kids loved it, and so did the parents, who “know the boys are not out planning some mischief with the neighborhood gang.”