SPOKANE, Wash. – Inspiration Point, a landmark in Riverfront Park which was dedicated during Expo ‘74, illuminates a painful point in Spokane’s history for the region’s first nations.
Expo ‘74 included several prominent religious denominations. A combination of Catholic and Protestant churches funded the installation of Inspiration Point, which was dedicated to “commemorating Spokane’s Christian pioneers.”
Seven plaques commemorate the original Christian missionaries who traveled to the Inland Northwest with the intent of evangelization.
Only one of the seven installations honors an Indigenous person, Spokane Garry, who had a positive relationship with the area’s first Protestant missionaries.
The point honors several missionaries who founded Indian Boarding Schools, including Congregational Church founders Henry and Abigail Cowley and Catholic missionaries Joseph Cataldo and Joseph Joset.
Sexual abuse was a persistent problem at Indian boarding schools across the northwest, which were usually operated in conjunction with federal resources. Some of the schools operated as late as the mid-1970s when Expo ‘74 took place.
Since the closing of several boarding schools for American Indian populations in eastern Washington, hundreds of credible sex abuse claims have been made against Protestant missionaries and Catholic priests
Roman Catholic religious orders tended to move priests accused of abuse to other schools or parishes after accusations. One priest on a list of credibly accused accusers was moved to the St. Mary Mission school in Omak after being accused of sexually abusing a minor at Gonzaga Prep in the late 1950s.
Accountability efforts led by Indigenous right’s groups and religious leaders have yielded new information about the schools, including uncovering the bodies of Spokane Tribe children who died at Indian boarding schools in Oregon in the 1880s.
The largest boarding schools around Spokane were the Fort Spokane and Chemawa Indian schools. The Fort Spokane facility was an abandoned military fort. Students were not allowed to speak their native language or discuss tribal culture.
Notably, Cataldo and Joset were both known for their more open stances on Indigenous rights. Joset even tried to enroll two local tribe members at Gonzaga University, which was denied by president James Rebmann.
As Spokane prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of Expo ‘74, Inspiration Point highlights a much more complicated and painful part of the Lilac City’s past.
