The City Built Around a Waterfall RoadyGoat
Spokane is the rare city with a thundering waterfall at its dead center. The Spokane River drops through downtown in a churn of whitewater, and for decades that spectacle was buried under railroad trestles and warehouses. The fix was audacious: in 1974, Spokane hosted a World's Fair to clear the riverbanks and reclaim the falls. Expo '74 was the first world's fair built entirely around an environmental theme, and at roughly 170,000 people Spokane became the smallest city ever to stage one. When the fair closed, the grounds became Riverfront Park, about 100 acres straddling two islands and both shorelines. The fair's gondola still glides over the falls today, and the U.S. Pavilion's white cabling remains a downtown signature. Not bad for a town that decided to throw a global party just to get a clear look at its own river.