Rebel with a Cause: The Biography of Glen Cloninger

By John R. Downes

A Spokane architect's ever-constant struggles with the Establishment, lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians, educators, activists, and myriad others, exhibits his bulldog nature, talent, and vision of the future he needed to weather the storms and overcome.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669867579

John R. Downes

JOHN R. DOWNES proves his credentials as a master storyteller in this epic tale. His novels span diverse genres: historical fiction, spy thriller, literary fiction, and mystery. He resides with his wife, Susan, in Spokane, Washington.

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Copyright © 2023 by John R. Downes.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Cover photo: Grapetree Village

Photographer: John R. Downes

Author may be contacted at: [e-mail].

Rev. date: 03/20/2023

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

850122

CONTENTS

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Author’s note

DEDICATION

Montana State University

The State of Washington Supreme Court

Spokane Mayor Mary Verner

Artists must be sacrificed to their art.

Like bees, they must put their lives

into the sting they give.

--EMERSON

Nothing can exist without a cause.

--VOLTAIRE

CHAPTER ONE

S hortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and later, following the wide acceptance of the general notion of Manifest Destiny , a migration of settlers caused encampments and townships to spring up all over the Western regions of the North American continent. " From sea to shining sea" was the political refrain. " Oregon or Bust", a popular wagon train graffiti, was often misspelled as Or ygun .

Settlements were erected alongside rivers for practical reasons: water, food, growing crops, raising livestock, personal hygiene. None of the conveniences of the twentieth century, such as automobiles and trains, were available – only teamster wagons and horseback. Railroads would follow after 1872. Why wouldn’t they? Congress awarded them over 170 million acres in land grants, under provisions of the Pacific Railroad Act, in exchange for their providing accessibility Westward to the Pacific Ocean. That meant the laying of thousands of miles of tracks, and building depots and water towers along the way.

The Northern route followed the river through Spokan Falls (later changed to Spokane), and provided transportation to the region for a constant influx of homesteaders, gold-seekers, and merchants to serve the throngs.

Wooden structures of all types: mercantiles, lodging facilities, eating and drinking establishments, brothels, blacksmith shops, even churches and funeral homes, lasted about one generation. Crude construction utilized rough-hewn timbers and planks, ofttimes put up by apprentice carpenters and untrained laborers. The first buildings within view of the river were small and short, although facades made them appear bigger. The adjacent dirt road became Trent Avenue.

Then came the second generation. Buildings were taller, better constructed, some had elevators. Brick and mortar, electricity, and skilled labor were prevalent, and in common usage. That became the look of Main Avenue, two city blocks from the river.

Successive generations created better-crafted and taller buildings; hence, Riverside Avenue, then Sprague Avenue, three and four blocks away from the river, showed evolutionary improvement in design, construction, height, and quality. Meanwhile, replacements for the initial structures on the Trent Avenue blocks deteriorated.

The City of Spokane certainly did not have exclusivity of what was called Architectural Obsolescence. Such was the evolution of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Denver; and even smaller towns such as Pendleton, Missoula, Helena, LaGrande, Twin Falls, and Eugene, river cities all.

*       *       *

July 28, 1944

Unseasonal summer rain, accompanied by gusts of wind, poured unabated on Spokane, Washington. For three days, only the hardiest or destitute remained outside. Empty buses slogged through the rising pools, as merchants up and down the city center’s Main, Riverside, and Sprague Avenues peered outwardly through showroom windows, yearning for a shopper.

Dozens of sailors stood and sat amidst civilian travelers inside the Milwaukee Road Railroad depot on Trent Avenue awaiting the Westbound passenger train. They’d just graduated from the Farragut Naval Training Center beside Pend Oreille Lake, Idaho, been bussed sixty miles to Spokane, having been prepared to face the perils and uncertainties of wartime military duty in disparate shipboard assignments. World War II had been raging since 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Dreariness outside the building revealed a spiderwork of steel girders supporting unpainted and graffiti-stained railroad trestles, the city’s most prominent feature. The ugly monoliths extended east to west, by sight, into infinity. Less than two hundred yards away, beside the Spokane River on Havermale Island, a second depot, the Great Northern, with its looming clock tower, utilized entirely separate tracks for different destinations. Four train companies operated through Spokane’s city center.

Across Trent Avenue, a plethora of structures housed seedy bars, pool halls, laundries, food markets, pawn shops, barbers, hotels, and ethnic restaurants. Alleys and sidewalks were inhabited by drunks, pimps, prostitutes, and hobos. Some umbrellas offered protection from the rain, but the unprepared cowered under cardboard boxes, or loitered in the shadows.

Seemingly, far removed from the blighted area, Sacred Heart hospital occupied a tree-shaded hillside twelve blocks distant. New patients registered, others awaited discharge. Doctors, nurses, and aides hustled through the corridors and wards, attending to patients.

Early that morning Marguerite Canter Cloninger had arrived at the Emergency entrance in a taxicab. She’d chosen not to awaken a neighbor for transportation. The cabbie bolted from the vehicle, yelling for attention. Her husband, Albert William Cloninger, couldn’t accompany her. He was away with the military, fighting the war.

Just moments following her admission, Marguerite Cloninger gave birth to her first child, Glen Albert Cloninger, one mile distant from the Spokane River riverfront seediness in downtown Spokane, where Glen would in later years rebel, as an architect, developer, and entrepreneur, against unending blockades and delays of his decades-long cause from naysayers, public officials, and the Establishment.

*       *       *

Glen’s first ten years were ever-changing for the family. At war’s end his father was released from active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard as a hospital corpsman, though he continued as a reservist and became the operator of a Texaco-owned gas station at the corner of Laura and Newark Avenue in East Spokane’s Perry district, less than three miles from the city center. Glen’s mother was employed as a receptionist at the Spokane Eye Clinic in-between and following the subsequent births of Glen’s siblings Dale, Yvonne, Carrie and Bart.

Thousands of Pacific Northwest veterans returned in late fall and winter 1945, virtually all at once. Demand for housing, automobiles, furniture, and jobs soared. The Cloningers’ major goal was to purchase their first home, assisted by the G.I. Bill.

The family maintained its apartment for a short period following the war at the former Spokane College building on 29th Avenue, between Grand Boulevard and Garfield street (now Manito Shopping Center) where Marguerite Cloninger had resided since 1941. It had been converted into apartments for military spouses during the war. Although most of the units contained a tiny kitchen, a single bathroom at the end of each corridor was shared by all of the tenants on each of several floors, including the basement. Competition reigned each morning and evening for shower and toilet time.

By 1949, after first moving into a converted dormitory apartment on the small campus, then purchasing a house in the 1600 block on Spokane’s East 40th Avenue, the growing family purchased a larger three-bedroom home at 1127 E. 40th; but in June 1950, Albert Cloninger was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. Glen assumed his father’s household chores, became paternal big brother to his siblings, attended Jefferson Elementary at 37th and Grand Boulevard, and delivered papers for the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

He became fascinated by two seemingly obscure words that were painted below the logo on a pickup truck that was constantly parked on 39th Avenue. Glen’s curiosity was piqued.

Contractor-Architect

The garage in the alley behind the truck owner’s house was lit up from inside most nights, casting a spooky aura.

Gravel crunched underfoot after midnight as Glen approached his neighbor’s garage and peered up at the glowing window three inches above his head. He wore a bathrobe over his pajamas. Placing his hands on the window sill, he pulled himself up beyond tiptoe range and peeked in. No vehicle. In its place stood two large drafting tables, slightly tilted, covered with floor plans and blueprints, all meticulously drawn. Walls contained others. Various mechanical-drawing instruments and pencils were strewn about.

He eased himself down, located a large stone, rolled it in place under the window, then stood on it for another look. Legible printing in three areas of the nearest floor plan read, LIVING ROOM, DINING ROOM, KITCHEN. Mentally strolling through the house, he visualized furniture placements, cabinet styles, even a reconfigured living room to accommodate a foyer and coat closet. His thoughts were three-dimensional. Why not add a kitchen window to look out when washing the dishes, he wondered? His mother occasionally wished out loud for one. Suppose two adjoining bedrooms were separated by a bathroom with separate entries?

Garage shelves contained cardboard and stick scale models of various house designs. All looked oddly similar, such as many of the homes along East 40th Avenue. Could Henry Ford’s influence have had something to do with mass production sameness? Wouldn’t one’s house be more valuable, utile, appealing, and livable if it wasn’t designed by cookie-cutter thinking? The outside dimensions and square footage could remain the same. A school chum lived in the same block. His house was identical to his own, except for its reverse floor plan and exterior color.

*

Who was restless last night,? Marguerite Cloninger asked during breakfast. I heard one of you moving around.

It was me, Mom, Glen replied. I couldn’t keep thinking about something. I got up for a glass of milk and stepped outside.

Did that put your thought to rest?

"Do you know what an arch-a-teck is?"

"I know what an ark-a-TECT is."

"What does an arch-a-teck do?"

"Ark-a-tects create buildings and design how they’ll look inside and