Suncrest

History

The Spokane people inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to European settlement. The river supported salmon runs that provided bountiful food for the area's inhabitants, though the runs were killed off when Long Lake Dam was built in 1915 without a fish ladder. White settlers have had a permanent presence in the area since the early 1800s. In 1810, the North West Company established Spokane House at the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane River, just over a mile upstream from present day Suncrest. It was the first permanent white settlement in what would become the state of Washington. Development boomed starting in the 1980s, with more than 1,000 homes constructed over the ten years leading up to 1996. By that time, Suncrest's population had surpassed 5,000 residents, making the community larger than Colville, the county seat. This rapid growth put a strain on both Suncrest and nearby Spokane's transportation infrastructure, namely SR-291. With limited services and employment opportunities, residents of Suncrest had little choice but to commute into Spokane for work and much of their shopping needs. Suncrest's location in Stevens County and dependence on Spokane County complicated attempts to improve the situation. “Their lifestyle in Suncrest is subsidized by the residents of Spokane," Spokane Planning Director Charlie Dotson told The Spokesman-Review in 1996. By that time, the Suncrest community had become effectively a bedroom community of Spokane.

Geography

Suncrest is located in the extreme southeast corner of Stevens County. The Spokane River to the immediate south of Suncrest marks the border between Stevens and Spokane Counties to the south, and the county line between the two runs north–south less than a mile to the east of Suncrest. The closest community is Nine Mile Falls, approximately 2.5 miles as the crow flies and 4.5 miles by road along State Route 291 to the southeast. The Spokane city limits are approximately 9.7 miles by road southeast of Suncrest along SR-291. 9.7 miles northwest of Spokane and about 5 miles northwest of central Nine Mile Falls, the next nearest population center. The main road through Suncrest is State Highway 291.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,680
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,594
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,483
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,054
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  2,894
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,719
• Pygmy Nuthatch

  Sitta pygmaea Vigors, 1839 · Aves
  2,528
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,498

Most recent

• M 2.73 — 2023-09-12
  Washington
• M 2.93 — 2022-10-13
  8 km NNE of Airway Heights, Washington
• M 2.81 — 2020-05-15
  3 km NNE of Green Bluff, Washington
• M 2.51 — 2020-03-31
  12 km NE of Sprague, Washington
• M 3.9 — 2015-04-24
  8 km WSW of Hope, Idaho
• M 3.7 — 2015-04-24
  12 km SSW of East Hope, Idaho