1897 – 401 1st Street
This small one-story brick building has seen a variety of businesses during its 125+ year history. Originally built to be a bank it has a reinforced concrete pad for a vault along its eastern wall. The exterior has been altered quite a lot, though the outlines of original widows can still be seen on the F Street side of the building.
1909 – 402/404 1st Street
The building you see today, originally known as the Hansen-Hubbard building was erected in 1909 by Cheneyite, George Yeaman for Charles I. Hubbard and Peter C. Hansen. The one-story brick building was divided into two stores with their entrances facing 1st Street.
1967 – 120 F Street – Owl Pharmacy
Owl Pharmacy is Cheney's oldest business that is still in operation, as well as the third oldest drug store in Washington State. It was established in 1882 and has relocated several times in its long history.
1904 Odd Fellows Building
The Odd Fellows building was dedicated by Cheney Lodge #21 on December 4, 1904.
1947 – 313-317 1st Street
This building at 313-317 1st Street represents "modern" mid-20th century commercial business design. An old wood-frame building had once occupied part of the space, but it had fallen down or been demolished years before. In 1947 this building was erected as a hardware and appliance store. It was split into two retail spaces about 1994, with the basement space opening as a third business in 2007.
Ghosts of Our Past – Ratcliffe Ford and Implement Company
Miles of barb wire, old farm equipment rusting in the boneyards on farms, and acres of tilled soil are evidence of the ghost of the C.A. Ratcliffe Company in our community. The 117-year story of the Ratcliffe Ford Dealership and Ratcliffe Implement Company, involves three locations on a single block of Second Street between College and F.
A Tale of Two Steals; When Cheney Was the County Seat
In the 1880 election to set the site of the Spokane County seat, little Cheney won the vote - much to the chagrin of the city of Spokane Falls. This is the story of that election from Cheney's perspective of how Spokane Falls attempted to steal the election and Cheney had to "steal" the county books which voters had given to them.
https://youtu.be/YYRGzo4-a_E
Second Tyler School
This larger, second, Tyler School was completed in 1912 at the north end of B Street.
There were three grades to a room. The high school was in the same building. There was a horse barn for the kids to stable their horses in and a shelter for cars to park. - Arley Heyer, December 1, 1994.
Originally, there were two horse barns near the schoolhouse with room for 16 horses. Students who rode to school were responsible for bringing food for their horse.
In March 1918, school was closed due to a Smallpox outbreak. Several children were sickened with the disease and the ...
First Tyler School
The Stevens School District #19 was established in 1880. The school held 1st through 8th grades. The district was renamed to Tyler along with the renaming of the town in 1892.
Directors of the school in 1904 were Henry Boston, James E. Carmen, James Abbott, and John Moreland.
In 1911 the school board was advocating for a new school at a new site or extensive remodeling of the current site. The board gave its reasons,
First, the sanitary conditions demand it, there being two barns and four outhouses within fifty or one hundred feet from the school building, with two ...
County Jail in Cheney
This jail structure was built when Cheney became the Spokane County seat in 1880. The jail, at 4th and E [College Ave], was located on the opposite corner from the courthouse.
Even after the county seat was moved to Spokane, the jail stayed in use until the City of Cheney built a new city hall and jail in 1890. The structure was purchased by William Sutton who moved it to his farm and used it as a chicken coop. Even after the old building was demolished the old jailhouse door could be found inside the Sutton barn for many years.
