50 years ago in Expo history: The Pavilion’s permanent status was debated amid concern it could ‘cause trouble’

The Spokane City Council was fairly certain that it wanted to keep Expo ’74’s iconic umbrella-shaped Federal Pavilion – but it wasn’t sure it wanted to keep the vinyl top.

“The popular thing right now would be to keep the top,” said council member Del E. Jones.

But he didn’t know if that would be wise. He wanted “firm evidence it will not cause troubles or be expensive to maintain.”

The design architect for the proposed riverfront park said that a study was underway to determine what problems might arise.

The council also came up with a “shopping list” of structures that the city should consider keeping, including the Gondola Ride, the Carrousel Building (also known as the Bavarian Garden,) the “theme stream,” the Boeing International Amphitheater and all of the landscaping.

The council was also interested in retaining the China Pavilion, which was “built to be permanent, unlike most of the pavilions.”

From 100 years ago: The anti-consolidationists – Hillyard residents opposed to annexation to Spokane – scheduled a mass meeting in a show of strength.

But the pro-annexation faction countered with a series of widely distributed pamphlets, with titles such as “Facts About Annexation” and “Three Things to Think About.”

The pamphlets asserted that Hillyard had proven to be unable to maintain its own streets, lights, schools and water system, and that “the proper development of Hillyard depends entirely on annexation to Spokane.”

The vote was scheduled for Sept. 16.