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Years after achieving considerable success, Brickell was invited to the Inland Northwest by Anthony Cannon, who tried to develop Spokane but lacked capital. Brickell, who grew up poor in Michigan, left for California to seek his fortune during the Gold Rush. Not only did Brickell live in a humble manner in an apartment for a well-heeled leader of a burgeoning town, there were only two photos ever taken of the savvy businessman. “I think a big reason for that is due to how Brickell lived,” King said.
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None had an idea about the man who laid the groundwork for their city. But as King details, Brickell was behind Spokane’s rapid resurrection. King is speaking of the Great Fire of 1889, which destroyed much of the city.
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“He did a ton of stuff for Spokane, particularly after the fire. How could Spokane’s first millionaire have fallen through the cracks of history? How is the city not named after Brickell, who enabled Spokane to become a viable entity, a thriving city with a population of more than 227,000 nearly a century and a half after he arrived? “I agree,” King said. During the latest episode, King tools around Spokane in a 1956 Chevy Bel Air driven by the car’s owner, Jim Dormaier, with his co-author while King’s guide producer, director and editor Garrin Hertel, captures their discourse. The latest edition of “ The King’s Guide,” aka “Chuck King’s Guide to Spokane History,” a program hosted by the aforementioned King on his website,, provides the details of the late tycoon’s life in an entertaining manner. The informative and aptly titled book “The Lion in the Shadows,” a Brickell biography written by his great-great-grandson, James Brickell, and local historian Chuck King and available at Auntie’s Bookstore, provides detail about the life of an altruistic and wise businessman who laid the groundwork for Spokane and revived the city after the devastating fire of 1889. There’s not a road, park or building named after the most significant player in the early history of the city. It’s mystifying how there’s not a trace of Brickell in Spokane. The list of the local businesses that were integral to the development of Spokane and run by Brickell is as long as the Centennial Trail. Brickell was president of Traders National Bank, Truckee Lumber Co., Spokane Bottling Co., Old Dominion Mining Co. The mysterious founding father of Spokane was the president of, well, just about everything that mattered at the dawn of the city. Edward James, or E.J., Brickell invested heavily in Spokane and helped birth the city with a tireless and uncommon commitment during the dawn of the technological revolution. If the man who put Spokane on the map during the 1880s had even a trace of ego, the Lilac City might have been known as Brickell.