ate his name more enduring than modeled bronze “His motive was to get rid of her,” Bamonte or sculptured stone.” says. “And not just to get rid of her, but to get her off the streets where people wouldn’t know lover Field, the ledge of grass beside the that she was having all these troubles and that he river in Peaceful Valley, was once lined with was leaving her penniless. And she didn’t deserve stands as the city’s finest athletic stadium. Bethat.” fore that, it was a significant gathering place Throughout his life, Bamonte says, Glover for the native people of Spokane, and the told the story of Spokane in a way that embellished his efforts and marginalized the people city has agreed to let the tribe rename the field in who helped him along the way. He helped perpeta way that recognizes the site’s longer history. uate the rumor — taught in local schools for many It’s not a deliberate ousting of Glover, and years — that the two settlers who preceded him, few people living in the city today even know the Scranton and Downing, were “horse thieves” field was named for him. But once, on an autumn in trouble with the law. (Scranton was accused, day nearly a century ago, a thousand people but found not guilty.) Glover downplayed the came to the field and cheered as a granite monument was unveiled to formally dedicate Glover influence of others who promoted Spokane in the Field as Glover himself looked on. The Chamber region, and suggested that business partners who of Commerce and the Advertising Club — the abandoned the settlement in the early years left new generation of city promoters — had made for lack of dedication and character, rather than occasion to honor him at several events when it practical concerns like money and medical care. became clear that time was running out. Bamonte has no doubt that Glover But this was the greatest honor, and the pulled the necessary strings to make Advertising Club announced plans to sure his first wife would not return to erect a full statue on the granite base so interfere with the image he was creat- Send comments to editor@inlander.com. that Glover’s figure could forever look ing of himself. Glover is a key player in Spokane east toward the falls. The Chronicle rehistory, Bamonte says, but it’s imporported that the crowd chanted — “Glover, tant that the full story be remembered when his Glover, speech” — and the old man addressed the name comes up. crowd with a tear in his eye: “Fellow citizens, I “I think the true story needs to come out,” he am always glad to meet with you.” says. “I think people need to know who he was The statue never materialized, and half a and what he stood for, and how he manipulated century later the base stood hidden in tangles things and how he sought his own recognition. … of grass, its plaque gone and its granite edges He did some things that are not acceptable today, chipped away. The Ad Club suggested it be and there’s a reason they’re not acceptable.” moved to the grounds of Expo ’74, now Riverfront Park, but parks officials deemed it inapproorty-eight years after he first arrived in Spopriately “tombstone-appearing.” kane, James Glover knew death was near. His Though most of the names Glover bestowed legs no longer held him, and he refused to go on Spokane’s streets are still used today, he never to bed because he did not believe he would named a street or any other landmark for himself. Glover Middle School was named for him get up again. He’d had Kirtland Cutter design before it opened in 1958, and will be his only a modest, cottage-style home in West Central in civic presence once Glover Field is renamed. 1909, and from there, day and night, he looked In 1931, a decade after Glover’s death, it out from his chair on the tree-covered hills to the was proposed that the recently rebuilt Grand west of Spokane. Avenue be renamed Glover Way. No one liked On Oct. 11, 1921, as Glover kept vigil over the idea. “Absolutely not!” one man commented the city he founded, his first wife died at Eastern in the Chronicle. “Grand boulevard is the grandest State Hospital just shy of 80. No family or birth name we could have for a street so fine. I’m not year was listed on her death certificate, and she a bit strong for this idea of shaking off all the old was buried in the hospital cemetery in a grave names which have meant so much to Spokane.” marked No. 746. A smaller portion of Cliff Drive was briefly conFive weeks later, on the morning of Nov. 18, sidered, and then the idea was dropped. Glover died quietly at his home. For a year and Today the Glover Field monument still a half he had stayed in his chair, and his family exists in Peaceful Valley. The lowest tier of the finally convinced him to go to bed. He died two concrete base is perched in the original place on days later. the hillside along Main, covered in matted leaves At the meeting after his death, the Spokane and littered with punctured cans. The rest of the City Council passed a resolution honoring monument stands in a pale patch of grass beside Glover’s service to the city: the community center, a pillar of anonymous “He died in the fullness of years, honored by granite without any plaque or sign to identify the his fellow citizens, and leaves behind him in the man it once honored. n city he helped to found a monument to perpetu-
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LETTERS
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Naming the Plaza
o involve the community in selecting a name for the new plaza by City Hall, the city asked for nominations that would “honor, depict and celebrate Spokane” and received several dozen submissions by the end of May. Some nominations that garnered support include John Moyer
Plaza, for the former state senator who opposed the Lincoln Street Bridge project that would have been built across the falls; Isamu L. Jordan Plaza, for the writer and musician who died last year; and names that describe the area’s native people or landscape rather than a specific person.
Those nominations are now with the Plan Commission, which will discuss them at a meeting on Aug. 13 and pass on recommendations for a city council vote. The city plans to hold a naming dedication once the name is finalized.
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