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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Spokane’s Skywalks

1967: Spokane’s new pedestrian skybridge was dedicated Sept. 28, 1967, one of the first of many pedestrian bridges, later called skywalks, to be built around Spokane, connecting stores, office buildings, parking garages and retail spaces on the second level. This shot was taken from under the walkway at the southeast corner of Howard Street and Main Avenue, where the first section of the overhead system originates from the second-story walkway around the Parkade. Crossing Main toward the right, it also spans Howard Street and bring shoppers to the Bon Marche department store. (SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVES)
1967: Spokane’s new pedestrian skybridge was dedicated Sept. 28, 1967, one of the first of many pedestrian bridges, later called skywalks, to be built around Spokane, connecting stores, office buildings, parking garages and retail spaces on the second level. This shot was taken from under the walkway at the southeast corner of Howard Street and Main Avenue, where the first section of the overhead system originates from the second-story walkway around the Parkade. Crossing Main toward the right, it also spans Howard Street and bring shoppers to the Bon Marche department store. (SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVES)
By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com(509) 459-5378

Spokane’s downtown Sears store moved to the new NorthTown mall in 1960. Suburban locations were tempting other stores to move, prompting a movement to find new ways to attract shoppers and keep them downtown.

One idea was a second-story pedestrian walkway, tying together department stores, office buildings, parking garages and retail spaces with small stores and restaurants. The walkways in the sky allowed pedestrians to wander from store to store without thinking about weather or traffic. A Spokesman-Review editorial, published on the day it opened, said the sky bridge “marks another step in the striking evolution of Spokane’s central business district.”

The first elevated pedestrian walkway was built in 1963, taking guests from the main Ridpath Hotel to the Ridpath Motor Inn across First Avenue. But the Ridpath would never connect to the larger walkway system that came later.

The first piece of a sky bridge system stretched from the 1967 Parkade parking structure across Main Avenue to the Bennett Block, then over Howard Street to the Bon Marche department store. The design incorporated a roof, but it was open to the weather and included external stairs down to the sidewalk at each intersection.

King Cole, executive secretary of Spokane Unlimited, the group that brought the world’s fair to Spokane in 1974, was emcee at the dedication of the skywalk.

In the early 1970s, during preparations for Expo ’74, several more pedestrian bridges were announced. Two would connect the Washington Mutual building, completed in 1973, to the Parkade garage to the east and the Crescent department store to the west.

Although there would eventually be 16 skywalks spread throughout the downtown core, the next few projects would be key to tying shopping areas together into a maze of hallways, open areas and nooks for small businesses that would be called River Park Square, a development that included a large parking garage as well.

River Park Square is owned by the Cowles Company, which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

River Park Square was redeveloped in the 1990s, adding a large atrium structure to its footprint, plus several floors of stores, restaurants and theaters to its main location at 808 W. Main Ave.

The most recent skywalk addition is the bridge that connects the Davenport Grand Hotel to the Spokane Convention Center.

Spokane’s second-level pedestrian system was mentioned in Time magazine’s 1976 article about the “renaissance of city centers” and how Spokane shoppers could “stroll among six city blocks without ever going outside.”