Cowles, William Hutchinson Jr.
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Cowles, William Hutchinson Jr.
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William Hutchinson Cowles Jr. was a Spokane media and real estate tycoon who wrote restrictive covenants into the sale of housing developments, denying people of color the ability to purchase property in these districts.
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Born in July of 1902, William Hutchinson Cowles Jr. was the son of William Hutchinson Cowles Sr. and Harriet Cheney Cowles. Acquiring Cowles Company following the death of his father in 1946, W.H. Cowles Jr. expanded the newspaper publishing firm into a multi-media outlet, while also making forays into the real estate industry. In 1953, W.H. Cowles Jr. opted to sell five subdivisions in what is now the South Hills district of Spokane, Washington. As a part of this sale, W.H. Cowles Jr. attached restrictive covenants to the conveyance deeds of nearly 200 homes in the South Hills, blocking people of color from purchasing them.
After the death of his father in 1946, W. H. Cowles Jr. continued to gift funding for the construction of Whitworth University’s Harriet Cheney Cowles Memorial Library in honor of his mother, who passed away in 1938.
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July 3, 1902
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1971
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Cowles Company; President (1946-1971)
Whitworth University; Donated Funds for Harriet Cheney Cowles Memorial Library
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William H Cowles Sr.; father
Harriet Cheney Cowles; mother
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Cowles Company
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https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/930
https://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/778
https://cowlescompany.com/about/
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