Spokane Area History. Spokane's first residents were Native American. From the Spokanes, we get our name, which means “Children of the Sun.” Spokane became an incorporated City on Nov. 29, 1881, encompassing 1.56 square miles. Back then, the City was known as Spokan Falls and had 350 residents.

The history of Spokane, Washington in the northwestern United States developed because Spokane Falls and its surroundings were a gathering place for numerous cultures for thousands of years.

Spokane is the largest city in Eastern Washington and the commercial hub for an interstate area known formerly as the "Inland Empire" and now as the "Inland Northwest."

David Thompson explored the area with the westward expansion and establishment of the North West Company 's Spokane House in 1810. This trading post was the first long-term European settlement in Washington. Completion of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1881 brought many settlers from America to the Spokane area.