West Hills, Spokane

Grandview/Thorpe is a neighborhood in Spokane, Washington. Located in southwestern Spokane, the neighborhood takes its name from two roads that pass through. Grandview Boulevard, so named because of its location at the top of a ridge from which large swaths of Spokane, the Spokane Valley and surrounding mountains to the north and east such as Mount Spokane, can be seen, is located in the northern part of the neighborhood. Thorpe Road traverses a gully in the central and southern portion of the neighborhood. The neighborhood's topography is a defining feature, as evidenced by the name Grandview. Interstate 90 descends into the Spokane Valley through the Garden Springs Creek drainage in the north, and Highway 195 travels into the city through the deep valley of Latah Creek to the east. These hills, and the limited access roadways that bound the neighborhood to the north and east, isolate Grandview/Thorpe from the rest of the city. Though the bulk of the neighborhood was annexed into the city by 1907, development was slow and much of Grandview/Thorpe, especially in the south, remains undeveloped. The areas that have been developed are entirely residential, and almost entirely single-family residential.

John A. Finch Arboretum 56.65 acres (22.93 ha) is a public arboretum located at West 3404 Woodland Boulevard, Spokane, Washington, United States in the West Hills neighborhood. It is open daily without charge. Dogs are not allowed at the arboretum.The arboretum was established in 1949 after the last living executor of the John A. Finch estate released $250,000 for the purpose. The landscape follows Garden Springs Creek, and now contains about 2,000 trees and shrubs, including 65 groups of lilacs, as well as a rhododendron grove, conifer and maple collections, and a nature trail. The arboretum lies in a small valley running southwest-to-northeast carved by the creek. I-90 and the Sunset Highway, which use the valley to descend into Spokane from the higher elevation of the Columbia Plateau, respectively form the southern and northern borders of the park. The arboretum is home to the Touch and See Nature Trail, which is owned by the Girl Scout council in the area. It was refurbished by Darlea Chatburn in 2004 who received her Gold Award after the completion of the project.

The Esmeralda Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played in 1945 and 1947 in Spokane, Washington. It was held at Indian Canyon Golf Course, a municipal facility designed in 1930 by Chandler Egan on the west end of the city, and opened in 1935. The Esmeralda Open was organized by the Spokane Athletic Round Table, a fraternal organization, headed by Joe Albi. The ART's emblem was a laughing horse named Esmeralda, which inspired the title of the charity tournament. The Round Table would later be instrumental in the construction of the city's Esmeralda Golf Course, opened in 1956 in northeast Spokane. It also was the driving force behind Spokane Memorial Stadium, named for Albi in 1962. The Esmeralda Open was held annually for over a decade, but most editions featured local and regional golfers, and was not part of the PGA Tour. The first in 1943 was a 54-hole event played at Downriver, and the 1949 tournament included Bing Crosby, who was raised in Spokane. It was not held in 1944, when the 1944 PGA Championship was played at Manito Golf and Country Club in south Spokane. In 1946, Spokane and the ART hosted the first U.S. Women's Open at the Spokane Country Club, north of the city. An attempt was made to have the PGA Tour return in 1954, but was unsuccessful.

Garden Springs Creek is a stream of approximately 1.5 miles in length that flows through the West Hills neighborhood of Spokane, Washington into Latah Creek. It begins in the Garden Springs area on the west side of the city and flows from the rim of the Columbia Plateau east down into the valley of Latah Creek, entirely within the city of Spokane and passing through John A. Finch Arboretum before flowing under Interstate 90 and U.S. Route 195 just above its confluence with Latah Creek at the 11th Avenue Bridge.

High Bridge, a railroad bridge over Latah Creek in Spokane, Washington, was constructed in 1972 by the Burlington Northern Railroad, following that railroad's creation in 1970 through the merger of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Spokane, Portland & Seattle railways. The bridge links the former Northern Pacific mainline with the former Great Northern and Spokane, Portland & Seattle lines to the west. The Latah Creek railroad bridge and two bridges carrying Interstate 90 and Sunset Highway cross High Bridge Park and the Latah/Hangman neighborhood of Spokane from Downtown Spokane on the east into the West Hills and Grandview/Thorpe neighborhoods to the west. The bridge is 3,950 feet (1,200 m) long, and its piers reach up to 175 feet (53 m) from the Latah Creek canyon floor. It is constructed of six weathering high-strength steel 160-foot-long (49 m) box girders spans bridging the canyon itself, with adjacent spans from 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m), supported by concrete piers. A ballasted concrete deck slab supports the railroad track. The western end of the bridge splits to form a wye.Although not the architect on record, Warren C. Heylman is said to have been the architect behind the design of the bridge, writing Burlington Northern with his "free and unsolicited" advice after he saw the initial plans for the bridge over Hangman valley that was to replace the downtown rail line they had removed in preparation for Expo '74, saying he had to act after seeing their heavily trellised design that would have obscured the historic arches of the Latah Creek Bridge. Heylman never heard back from the railroad company, but says that bridge that was built, a much simpler design with long concrete legs that complemented the nearby I-90 bridge was his. According to the opinion of Washington State University architecture and engineering professor, David Scott, the bridge is arguably Heylman's best work, saying it is "one of the finest examples of what a railroad bridge can look like or be."

The Sunset Boulevard Bridge, also known as the Latah Creek Bridge, is a deck arch bridge in the northwestern United States that spans Latah Creek in Spokane, Washington. The bridge connects the neighborhoods of Browne's Addition on the east, and Downtown Spokane just beyond that, with West Hills to the west. Latah Creek, which passes under the bridge, separates the two neighborhoods. It was built 112 years ago in 1911 by the city of Spokane, and was designed by Morton McCartney & J.F. Cunningham, with J.F. Greene serving as the construction engineer.It is the northernmost of three bridges which cross Latah Creek in its immediate area. High Bridge is located to the south, and carries a BNSF railroad. Interstate 90 crosses Latah Creek just to the north of the rail bridge. All three pass over High Bridge Park, which takes its name from the bridges.

Latah Creek ( LAY-tə), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drains 673 square miles (1,740 km2) in parts of Benewah and Kootenai counties in Idaho, Spokane County and a small portion of Whitman County in Washington, where over 64 percent of its watershed resides. Some major tributaries of the approximately 60-mile (97 km) creek include Little Latah Creek (also known as Little Hangman Creek) and Rock Creek. The average flow of the creek can range from 20 cubic feet per second (0.57 m3/s) to 20,000 cubic feet per second (570 m3/s). Latah Creek receives its name from a Nez Perce word likely meaning "fish". In 1854, the creek received another name, Hangman Creek, from a war between the Palouse Indians and white soldiers, which resulted in several Palouse being hanged alongside the creek. The Latah Creek watershed is dominated by agriculture, which has released large amounts of sediment from the surrounding Palouse soils into the watershed on an annual basis. This has caused the ruin of natural fish populations, riparian zones, and natural flow patterns. The creek has been channelized in some places, and meanders, islands and natural channel formations have been destroyed. In response to these damaging factors, the water quality overall in the Latah Creek basin is quite low, and "Washington State water quality standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and fecal coliforms are routinely violated." The remaining third of the land in the watershed is mostly forest.

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum and the Pacific Northwest Indian Center, is located in Spokane, Washington's Browne's Addition. It is associated with the Smithsonian Institution, and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

The Patsy Clark Mansion is a Spokane, Washington, United States, residence that was designed by architect Kirtland Cutter in 1897 for mining millionaire Patsy Clark. It is located at 2208 West Second Avenue in the city's historic Browne's Addition. The mansion had long been used as a restaurant. In 2002, a law firm purchased the mansion for $1.03 million in order to rescue the landmark from further deterioration. The mansion now houses a law firm, while still remaining open for private rentals for small events. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Clark Mansion in 1975. It is included also as a contributing property in Browne's Addition Historic District.

The John A. Finch Memorial Nurses Home in West Central, Spokane, Washington, also known as Finch Hall, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It was designed by architects Whitehouse & Price.

Browne's Addition, often referred to shorthand as just Browne's, is a neighborhood in Spokane, Washington. It is located directly west of Downtown Spokane and is one of the oldest and densest neighborhoods in the city. The area is known for its numerous historic mansions, many of which have been converted into multi-family apartments. The terrain is flat in the neighborhood despite the degree of topographical relief in the immediate surrounding area. Latah Creek cuts a deep valley to the west, separating Browne's Addition from the Sunset Hill portion of the West Hills neighborhood and the Spokane River gorge drops off dramatically to the north into the Peaceful Valley neighborhood. The South Hill area of Spokane rises to the southwest. Browne's Addition is known as one of Spokane's centers of culture, with its collection of historic structures, vibrant culinary and nightlife scene, numerous community festivals, and for being the location of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

The Spokane Public Library is a public library system serving the city of Spokane, Washington, US. It has five branches and a central library in downtown Spokane, along with a bookmobile and online services. The library system was acquired by the municipal government in 1894 and is funded by the city budget and a separate property tax.