Spangle, WA

Spangle is a Spokane County city about 18 miles south of downtown Spokane along U.S. Route 195. The 2020 census counted 280 residents. It sits in the rolling farm country of the Palouse, close enough to Spokane for the highway to matter while retaining a compact center of homes, shops, utilities, and civic buildings. The city’s local identity is tied to agriculture and to its position on the north–south route.

William Spangle, an Illinois Civil War veteran who served under General William Tecumseh Sherman, settled here in 1872. He established a stage station, post office, and blacksmith shop, giving the new community the basic pieces of a road town. Spangle High School graduated its first class in 1908 and its last in 1960 after the Liberty Consolidated District formed with nearby communities; class composites remain at the Spangle Service Club. Today the town’s water, sewer, parks, and council calendar sit inside a small agricultural place that grew from one pioneer’s stage stop.