How the Spokesman-Review Newspaper Began

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SPOKANEREGION

By Kris Krell  

How the Spokesman-Review Newspaper Began

Do you remember when Spokane had the afternoon newspaper, The Spokane Chronicle (publication ended in 1992), and the morning paper, The Spokesman-Review?  When my mom, dad, sister and I moved to Spokane in the summer of 1969, both papers were in existence.  We subscribed to the Spokesman-Review newspaper.  Until researching today, I didn’t realize back in 1969 that the Chronicle leaned Democratic, and the Spokesman-Review leaned Republican.  

Spokane’s newspapers—The Chronicle and The Spokesman-Review--have a long complicated history and many name changes.  As I researched for this blog post, at times keeping the two newspapers apart was confusing.  To make this post less confusing, this blog post is only about the history of The Spokesman-Review!

In May of 1883, the first edition of the Spokane Falls Review was published.  Frank Dallman, editor, had grown up in a Midwestern newspaper family, had moved to California to run a newspaper, but had thought Spokane would be a good market for a newspaper.  Dallman favored a Republican leaning newspaper; Spokane already had a Democratic leaning paper—The Chronicle had been publishing since 1891.  

Spokane Fall’s city leaders thought that Spokane could support two papers and were happy to endorse a Republican leaning paper.  The population of Spokane Falls in 1883 was around 1,500 residents.  Dallman set up shop, purchased a printing press, and started publication.  By 1887, Dallman had sold out to the two partners that he had acquired over the past four years.

Eventually, two papers could not be support two daily newspapers.  The Review (Chronicle) talked to the Spokesman about consolidating the two newspapers in 1893.  The agreement was made, and four partners changed the name to The Spokane Review.

The financial panic of 1893 in Washington State began in January 1893.  The panic hit Spokane hard, and three of the four partners were devastated financially. In 1894, partner Cowles bought out the other three partners, and he renamed the paper The Spokesman-Review.

Here’s a listing of all the name changes (which doesn’t look too bad in this list, but if The Chronicle’s name changes were also included, it would be a mess—the two papers had very similar names!):

·      May of 1883: publication of the first weekly edition of the Spokane Falls Review,

·      June of 1884: Spokane Falls Review became a daily paper named Spokane Falls Evening Review, 

·      1885: Spokane Falls Evening Review became a morning newspaper named The Morning Review

·      1890: The Morning Review became the Spokesman

·      1893: The Spokesman became The Spokane Review

·      1894: the Spokane Review became The Spokesman-Review

From the publication of the first edition of the Spokane Falls Review to the name change to the Spokesman-Review only eleven years had passed.  1894 circulation was around 4,000; 1900, above 10,000.  

According to Wikipedia, The Spokesman-Review has the third highest readership among daily newspapers in Washington State.  It is also one of the few remaining family-owned newspapers in the United States.

Sources:  The Spokesman-Review, Bumpy beginning, but quite a ride, May 19, 2007, Wikipedia