Looking Back

10 Years Ago

July 29, 2004

Dry conditions and a passing freight train were contributing factors in a small wildfire fire just outside northeast Cheney.

The Spokane Transit Authority was in the process of re-examining how it serves the West Plains because of drops in usage. A recent voter-approved sales tax increase likely kept STA from ending service to the area.

The Medical Lake City Council was considering making selling or setting off fireworks of any kind illegal.

20 Years Ago

July 28, 1994

Cheney’s new wastewater treatment plant was nearing completion and would replace sewer lagoons that were built in the 1960s.

The City of Cheney Water Department was urging residents to conserve water as hot temperatures forced them to initiate water restrictions.

30 Years Ago

July 26, 1984

Members of the Cheney Fire Department recently received certification for use of a defibrillator, giving them an added life saving tool.

A string of burglaries in two Eastern Washington University dormitories were being investigated by local law enforcement. The break-ins occurred at Streeter and Louise Anderson halls which housed members of the Seattle Seahawks football team who were in Cheney for training camp.

40 Years Ago

Aug. 1, 1974

Four Lakes announced plans to stage a community fair, Aug. 24, at the Four Lakes Grange featuring local baked goods, livestock, farm and garden products.

EWU football coach John Massengale said his team “will be as strong as last year and probably better.” The Eagles, 5-4 in 1973, were scheduled to open the season, Sept. 21, at Portland State University.

50 Years Ago

July 24, 1964

New Cheney Superintendent of Schools, William Riggs, who left a job at the West Valley School District in the Spokane Valley, said both districts seemed to be very similar in terms of size, number of schools and planned new construction.

Ruth Streeter Cheney, the granddaughter of the Benjamin P. Cheney, the man for which the town was named, planned to visit the town and Eastern Washington State College.

EWSC athletic director Dave Holmes announced the 1964 football schedule that included nine games, four at home — including Whitworth College — plus trips to play Whitman College in Walla Walla and Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.

Looking back with the Cheney Historical Museum

Seventy-five years ago on July 21, 1939, Ernie Larsen installed an air conditioner in his barber shop on College Avenue. His was the second business to do so, Ted Webb’s Sweets & Eats had already installed one which had proved quite popular with his customers. Learn more about our area’s history at http://www.cheneymuseum.org.