The Ghost Town That Refused to Die
A legal war between Denver, Washington, and the city of Spokane ends in the state supreme court, effectively wiping a town off the map.
The decision of the supreme court in the case of the town of Denver has attracted the attention of smaller corporations in the state. Territorial and state legislatures had three times tried to give validity to the town of Denver, but all attempts failed, and under the supreme court decision, it will now be swallowed up by Spokane. Denver started as an independent town, incorporating under a territorial act of 1888. However, the supreme court ruled that the judicial branch could not exercise legislative functions, effectively rendering the town's incorporation and the original law null and void. Despite various attempts by the legislature to retroactively validate these incorporations through blanket acts in 1890 and 1893, the court ruled these acts unconstitutional as they constituted special, rather than general, legislation. The court ultimately sided with Spokane, declaring that the incorporation of Denver was void from the start.
“The rules were strong enough to hold, but the plank was rotten.”
This legal struggle over the boundaries and legitimacy of 'Denver' (a forgotten unincorporated area near Spokane) illustrates the early, chaotic process of establishing municipal borders in Washington. While today's annexation disputes feel bureaucratic, the 1890s version shows a wild west era of incorporation where entire towns could be legally 'swallowed' by their neighbors.
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