Spokane’s Moral Crusade Against Dance Halls
Local reformers and the Ministerial Association launch a petition drive to ban dance halls and variety theaters from the city.
Some of Spokane’s reformers have opened up a new war. The Good Government Club is said to be back of the plan, but the Ministerial Association is also lending it encouragement. Petitions are being circulated asking the council to abolish all dance halls and variety theaters, and provide measures which will prevent the licensing of any such institution at any future time.
“Petitions are being circulated asking the council to abolish all dance halls and variety theaters.”
This 1895 campaign against 'variety theaters' echoes the long-standing tension in Seattle and Spokane between civic moralists and the city's nightlife economy. Today, the debate has shifted from dance halls to the regulation of nightlife districts and zoning, but the impulse to use city ordinances to legislate morality remains a constant in Washington politics.
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