Review Cheney Historical Preservation Commission Guide to Downtown Cheney

Historic Cheney Washington

The Cheney Historical Preservation Commission (CHPC) was faced with a tough challenge when crafting a walking tour of the sleepy college town.  From their base in the small Cheney Historical Society Museum, the commission dug up all they could find on the historical architecture of Downtown Cheney.  The town lacks grand monuments and recognizable landmarks and its stories are not exactly page turners.  Yet the commission did an excellent job considering the source material.

Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building

Beginning on 1st Street and F at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building, the tour details the construction of the buildings along Cheney's central road.  We learn the origins of "ghost signs" existing among the mostly 100 year old buildings, such as the faded "Garberg's General Store" markings above.

Main Street

Aside from short descriptions of the buildings, many of the stops contain little more than a list of former business occupants. If captivating stories featuring these locations exist, they are not featured here.  Cheney itself might be to blame for this, in that it is not known as the frequent setting for high drama and intrigue.  Occasionally a personality comes through, such as in the stops for the Martin Grain and Milling Co. when we are told that the son of the founder of said Mill became the first governor from Eastern Washington.

Martin Grain and Milling Co.

Yet after this brief mention, the subject is dropped, and we return to a somewhat dry history of businesses being sold and renovated.  Again, this may be due to the nature of the subject matter and not the presentation, but its hard to imagine that there was not even a single exciting story in Cheney's history.  

From the Historical buildings of Main Street we then move on to many of Cheney's antique residential homes. The guide explains in great detail the changes made to many of these old structures over the years.  And thankfully some of the history of local people comes to the fore, with the personal histories of some of Cheney's prominent citizens featured, such as David and Bessie Lowe.  Yet the focus remains as ever, on architecture over people and events.  A particular treat in the area is the 1931 Cheney Public High School (below).

Old Cheney High School (presently an administration building)

   

It's stylized brickwork and decorative patterns harken back to a time when even government buildings could have some aesthetic quality to them, before the advent of dreary modern functionalism.  

Decorative masonry

The tour itself has some troublesome issues.  While numbered, the tour stops do not follow a clear path throughout the city.  The tourist is given a map, but no arrows or other such indications as to where to go.  The numbered stops sometimes make absurd leaps of entire blocks or more.  The distance between stops 49 and 50 for instance is three entire blocks filled with other stops of their own.  The final stop, the train station, is over four blocks from the one preceding it.  Its as if someone forgot to add it, and did not want to re-format the booklet when they realized their error.  The booklet itself is difficult to find, only being available in person at the Cheney Historical Museum, which is open only once a week.  No online version exists at present.  

Cheney Train Station

Issues aside, the Cheney Historic Preservation Commission did a reasonably good job given the source material.  With a bit more of an emphasis on storytelling and the fixing of some structural issues, the tour could be greatly improved.  While outsiders to Cheney may not find much here of great interest, locals wishing to understand their day-to-day surroundings may find much to appreciate in the CHPC Guide to Central Cheney Historical District.  Available at the Cheney Historical Museum.