Northwest, Spokane

The Spokane people have lived in what is now Northwest for hundreds of years.[2] They camped and fished along the banks of the Spokane River and gathered edible plants, roots and berries which grew throughout the neighborhood. A trail which gave its name to the South Indian Trail and North Indian Trail neighborhoods to the north passed through the area, connecting the Spokane Falls to the southeast with the Little Spokane River to the north.[3]

With the arrival of European settlers in the 1800s, the trail became an important arterial for the trappers and pioneers who came to the Spokane area. The trail was renamed Pioneer Road and was part of a route that connected the Columbia River to Spokane House, roughly 7.5 miles to the northwest of the current neighborhood. From Spokane House, the trail and subsequent Pioneer Road passed through what is now Northwest into the nascent city of Spokane.[4]

Spokane VA Medical Center in Northwest

The bulk of Northwest was annexed into the city of Spokane between 1907 and 1910.[5] By 1923, towards the end of Spokane's streetcar era, a streetcar line stretched into Northwest along Driscoll Boulevard to near Rowan Avenue.[6]

Growth in the neighborhood took off in the 1940s. During World War II the U.S. Army built Baxter General Hospital on the grounds of what is now the VA Medical Center.[3] In the post-war housing boom that followed, residential development spread across the north side of Spokane, including in the Northwest neighborhood.[7] Joe Albi Stadium, originally named Memorial Stadium, was opened to the west of the VA Medical Center in 1950. The stadium served as the city's municipal stadium for 70 years.[3]

The neighborhood expanded in 1986 by annexing a tract of land to the northwest of the former border at Francis and again in 2006 by annexing the eastern banks of the Spokane River.[5]

Dwight Merkel Sports Complex

As the name suggests, Northwest is located in the northwestern portion of Spokane. It is bounded by the Spokane River on the west, Wellesley Avenue on the South, Ash Street on the east and Francis Avenue and Nine Mile Road in the north. The Balboa/South Indian Trail lies to the north. North Hill is located to the east. Audubon/Downriver is located to the south. Unincorporated Spokane County sits to the west, beyond the Spokane River; The Spokane River and portions of Riverside State Park are located within the neighborhood, but extend north, south and west from the neighborhood.[3]

The eastern half of Northwest is largely flat, especially west of A Street. There is a hillside that runs southeast–northwest along Driscoll Boulevard that climbs approximately 100 feet over two to three city blocks. Another, steeper bluff falls more than 100 feet just northwest of the intersection of Francis and Nine Mile Road, where the northwesternmost portion of the neighborhood lies closer to the elevation of the Spokane River. The western, flat portions of the neighborhood are around 2,000 feet above sea level while the river on the western edge is around 1,600 feet.[8]

Driscoll Boulevard Parkway

Riverside State Park extends into Northwest along its western boundary on the Spokane River. The parkland here protects some of the last intact Okanagan dry forests ecoregion, part of the broader temperate coniferous forest biome. The Okanagan dry forests extend from just south of Spokane northwest through the Okanagan to the Thompson Plateau in British Columbia. Tall ponderosa pine trees in the neighborhood are remnants of the ecoregion's presence prior to human development.[9]

Assembly Street runs north–south through the middle of the neighborhood. To the east are largely single-family residential zones with a few neighborhood retail areas. To the west of Assembly are the campuses of the VA Medical Center, Dwight Merkel Sports Complex, Pauline Flett Middle School and Fairmount Memorial Park, as well as the portions of Riverside State Park within the neighborhood.[10][11][3] There is also an area of suburban development in the northwest of the neighborhood to the west of Nine Mile Road made up of multiple subdivision style developments.[8]

As of 2017, there were 13,367 residents in the neighborhood across 5,513 households, of which 28.2% had children. 22.8% of households were rented, compared to 45.3% citywide. 24.6% of the residents were aged 19 or younger, compared to 21.9% citywide. Those over 65 made up 23.5% of the population, compared to 14.5% citywide. The median household income was $55,709, compared to $44,768 citywide. 23.2% of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher, while 27.5% have at most a high school diploma. The unemployment rate was 5.6% compared to 6.5% citywide. 51.8% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, compared to 54.5% citywide. 96.4% of residents were born in the United States or one of its territories. Of those born elsewhere, 24.3% were from Germany, 15.1% from Ireland, with 20.8% from "other" and 20.3% from "unclassified."[1]

Northwest is served by Spokane Public Schools, and is home to Westview Elementary and Browne Elementary Schools. Those two schools, as well as Indian Trail Elementary in neighboring Balboa/South Indian Trail and Ridgeview in neighboring North Hill, serve Northwest. Westview Elementary serves Northwest from Francis Avenue in the north to Rowan Avenue in the south, and Assembly Street in the west to Belt Street in the east. Browne Elementary serves the neighborhood south of Rowan Avenue and west of Belt Street. Indian Trail Elementary serves the northwestern portion of the neighborhood along Nine Mile Road and Ridgeview Elementary serves Northwest east of Belt Street. All four schools feed into Pauline Flett Middle School. located in the Northwest neighborhood.[12] From Pauline Flett Middle School, all four elementary districts also feed into Shadle Park High School, located just south of Northwest in the adjacent Audubon/Downriver neighborhood.[13]