Biohazard Cleanup Near The Y Spokane, WA

Spokane is the largest city in eastern Washington and the seat of Spokane County, set on the Spokane River about 92 miles south of the Canadian border and roughly 20 miles west of the Idaho state line.

The city takes its name from the Spokane people, whose name is often translated as "Children of the Sun."

Spokane was founded in 1873 and incorporated on November 29, 1881, growing up around the powerful Spokane Falls in what is now downtown.

The Great Spokane Fire of 1889 destroyed much of the downtown commercial district, and many of the rebuilt Romanesque Revival buildings were designed by noted architect Kirtland Cutter.

The 2020 census counted 228,989 people in Spokane, making it the second-most populous city in Washington, with about 101,130 households recorded that year.

Spokane is known as the birthplace of Father's Day, first celebrated there in 1910 after a campaign by local resident Sonora Smart Dodd.

Downtown's 100-acre Riverfront Park was created on the site of Expo '74, the first environmentally themed world's fair, and it overlooks Spokane Falls and preserves the hand-carved 1909 Looff Carousel.

Spokane's official nickname is the "Lilac City," celebrated each May with the Spokane Lilac Festival and its Armed Forces Torchlight Parade.

The roughly 90-acre Manito Park and Botanical Gardens on the South Hill features the Duncan Garden, a rose garden, a lilac garden, and the Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden honoring Spokane's sister city.

Spokane hosts the Lilac Bloomsday Run, a 12-kilometer road race held on the first Sunday of May that typically draws around 45,000 participants.