Then and Now: Glover Field, Spokane
Back in October of 2014, I wrote an article admonishing the Pacific Northwest Inlander for publishing a piece denouncing Spokane Founding Father James Glover. Glover was such a huge influence in the development of early Spokane that citizens named a number of things after him, including an athletic field that residents would regularly make use of in the early 20th century.
Glover Field is now a grassy park in Peaceful Valley that has a couple of baseball diamonds and an addict recovery center on the same space. Peaceful Valley has long been known as a haven for illegal drug users, low-income individuals and families, and those who choose to shrug off society’s expectations. In previous decades, it’s been the site of a hippie commune, a nudist colony, and a Native American tribal encampment, in addition to being called home by countless homeless individuals.
Thanks to a web service called Juxtapose that provides the ability to compare before-and-after images, I’m now able to take photos of different places across Washington and compare them with historic photos taken over a hundred years ago in the exact same place. Here is my comparison of Glover Field in 1910 and and 2019!