Bank Bets Big on Spokane Falls Corner
A livery stable lot at Main and Howard sells for a tidy sum as the National Bank plans a three-story brick block, proof of the city's soaring property market.
If people living on the outside imagine that real estate in Spokane Falls is not worth hard money and plenty of it, they are most woefully off the track. From the natural consequences of rapid and substantial growth, property has slowly and surely crept upward, and there is no telling how high it will reach, as there is no abatement in the demand and no sign of weakening in prices. This week Ben Bravinder sold the lot upon which was his livery stable, at the southeastern corner of Main and Howard streets, without the building, for a sum to the National Bank and G. H. Ingle & Co., the latter firm owning the lots. A couple of years ago it could have been purchased for a few hundred. It is the intention of the bank to put up a fine brick building on this corner containing three stores, one fronting on Main and one on Howard. Work will commence on the building about September 1st.
“From the natural consequences of rapid and substantial growth property has slowly and surely crept upward, and there is no telling how high it will reach.”
The sale of a corner lot for a bank building was big news in 1880s Spokane Falls, where real estate prices were climbing fast. Today, Spokane's housing market faces similar pressures of speculation and growth. The story captures the boosterism that shaped the city's downtown.
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