This day in history: Writer suggest turning U.S. Pavilion into planetarium

A letter-to-the-editor writer proposed a novel idea for the U.S. Pavilion after the close of Expo ’74: turn it into a planetarium.

Kenneth McCord said it would become a major tourist attraction and “tremendously popular with every citizen of Spokane – young and old.”

He wrote that Spitz Space Systems had made an offer to install a 72-foot planetarium in the IMAX Theater, “complete and ready to go for $425,000.”

“Assuming we might be able to acquire the federal pavilion for little or nothing, this could be the biggest bargain ever to come Spokane’s way.”

This bargain never came to pass.

From 100 years ago: The Spokane County prosecutor was receiving “assistance” in his bootlegging probe from a dubious source: the Ku Klux Klan.

C.A. Rexroad, local Klan “kleagle,” admitted that his group was providing information to the investigators. Several members of the sheriff’s office staff had been charged with assisting bootleggers and one deputy had been identified as a Klan member.

Rexroad denied that. But he said he wanted “to see any guilty persons prosecuted.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1900: Great Britain and Germany sign the Anglo-German Treaty, agreeing to maintain the territorial integrity of China and support the “open door” policy called for by the U.S. secretary of state.

1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as U.S. President John F. Kennedy is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.