Gave Sacajawea keys to city, Lewis-Clark Hotel

The Lewis-Clark Hotel still looks beautiful to me when I drive by, but I am sad knowing that it’s no longer a hotel, but just a lot of empty rooms. On the first floor on Main Street there is a wedding business, but I think that’s the only occupant of the building.

I have been to many events at the hotel, including high school class reunions. The big main floor is still available to rent for events. The hotel was the place to gather 50 or more years ago. In 1950, President Harry Truman’s vice president, Alben Barkley, spoke there, and John F. Kennedy spoke there in 1960 while he was campaigning.

When I was in high school and college, my

friend Bud Nelson’s family owned the hotel, and I used to meet him there at the Tomahawk Room bar. Now when I drive by, I often wonder if the old hotel could possibly be renovated into condominiums. And word on the street is the building’s owner, Alexander Investments, may be planning to put in apartments. It would be great to see life being lived there again.

But turning from speculation about the future, let’s talk about the Lewis-Clark Hotel’s past. When it opened 101 years ago, on Sept. 28-29, 1922, the event was a truly “grand” opening.

During the two-day celebration more than 10,000 people visited the new $450,000 hotel, designed by renowned architect

Kirtland Cuter of Spokane. The five-story Missionstyle building had 150 rooms, three dining rooms and a large Italian-style lobby. The building’s celebratory debut included a parade, a pageant, entertainment, a luncheon, a banquet, a tea and, at the end of the second day, a “Grand Opening Ball.”

A pageant depicting the