50 years ago in Expo history: Official recommends permanent ‘indian village’ in new Riverfront Park

Sonny Tuttle, director of Expo ’74’s Native American Earth project, had an idea: Make the “Indian village” a permanent part of the new park.

The Park Board seemed to like the idea, and so did the local Bicentennial organization.

Not so fast, said other city leaders – including Mayor David Rodgers. He expressed reluctance to “allocate a portion of one or more of our city parks to a particular group on a continuing basis.” He said it would create “an awkward precedent” if other “special interest groups” asked for space in the parks.

The director of the Northwest Indian Center adjacent to Gonzaga University was also concerned about the plan. He said the proposal had been “rushed through” without proper input from his organization and the public. He said a permanent Indian village might be more suitable at his site – and in any case, he thought his organization should have a say in how a permanent village would be implemented, wherever it was.

From 100 years ago: Local proponents of the Columbia Basin irrigation project had good reason to be happy with the recent election of President Calvin Coolidge.

They believed that Coolidge was a strong backer of Western reclamation, and would take it up “with all of the zeal of Theodore Roosevelt.”

Also, voters in the Northwest re-elected the chairs of the reclamation committees in both the U.S. Senate and the House.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1906: Theodore Roosevelt becomes first president to visit another country.