What if Cheney became Spokane's County seat?

Just what if Cheney became Spokane County seat as it had long desired, and Benjamin P. Cheney decided in fairness to locate his institution of higher learning to Spokane?

What might it have meant to the how Eastern Washington University grew and developed since its founding as Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in 1882.

How might it have existed with its higher-ed regional rivals, all established later than Eastern — Washington State College and Whitworth both in 1890, Gonzaga 1887 and Idaho in 1889?

Never heard the story of the county seat conflict? It is certainly right out of the Wild West as told by the local history website, spokanehistorical.org.

Over the course of a several years in the 1880s Cheney and Spokane Falls vied for this element of regional power.

Being designated the county seat had all kinds of power associated with it in the ever-growing West, most notably being home of the courthouse and the judges that occupied it.

An 1880 ballot measure initially awarded the distinction to Cheney by 14 votes, but a recount switched the count back to Spokane a mere two votes.

A vigilante group from Cheney rode into Spokane, broke into the court house where they stole both the books and kidnapped the auditor. A hasty recount put Cheney back in charge and that’s the way it stayed until 1886 when a rapidly-growing Spokane Falls won back the county seat by a more healthy margin.

In the context of this column and its focus on sports, I offer the historical perspective wondering how things might be different 142 years later?

Let’s say Cheney beat the U.S. Army to the punch when it established Fort George Wright on land high above the Spokane River in 1896?

What if Benjamin’s $10,000 seed money sprouted a litany of educational offspring that have included the State Normal School at Cheney in 1889, in 1937 Eastern Washington College of Education or Eastern Washington State College in 1961?

Imagine first the massive wooden field house moved from Farragut Naval Base sprawled across the bench in west Spokane? And the original Woodward Field as its neighbor?

Or then, following the April 25, 1977 fire that torched the tinderbox arena, how the still spiffy Special Events Pavilion might still present itself.

Would Reese Court then play to several thousand rather than several hundred to watch one of the premiere and under-appreciated college basketball programs in the region. And what if fans did not have to drive the 40-mile round trip in winter to cheer on the Eagles?

Think about the renovations of two decades ago in 2004 at the “new” Woodward Field?

How it might have been home to Spokane’s own Division-I college football team? And how the renamed Roos Field and its 20,000 seats might have been rocking’ in that 2010 national title run? Not unlike Washington-Grizzly does in Missoula?

And in those subsequent seasons with those dynamic playoff runs and more rival games against Big Sky Conference rivals, the University of Idaho and Washington State University?

Dreaming of course, but before I awake, a couple more questions?

Just what if Cheney and Spokane had indeed traded places 144 years ago with their respective pursuits and new students had different pillars through which to pass?

Would Eastern athletics still be in the crosshairs of figurative sniper rounds that have been wizzing around for over 50 years?

The bullets being fired are by a small cadre of self-serving faculty hoping to preserve their feudal fiefdoms at a school whose enrollment is in a free-fall. Where there is not one fingerprint from west of Washington Street?

Paul Delaney is a (semi)retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].