Erected in 1881 where the Spokane and Columbia Rivers meet. Fort Spokane served as a frontier military post until troops were transferred to Cuba to fight the Spanish-American War in 1898. Government officials who ran the Colville and Spokane Indian Agencies then took over the fort and by 1900 it had become the Fort Spokane Indian Boarding School. The last occupant of the fort was the Tuberculosis Hospital and Sanitarium that served the tribes of the area starting in 1910 and ending when the fort closed in 1929. The National Park Service now maintains the old fort’s grounds, offering free, self-guided walking tours and educational programs about this important historical site, located in what is today the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. Military uniforms, weapons and accounts of life at the boarding school are exhibited throughout the guardhouse. Although the grounds are open year-round, access to the exhibits in the historic buildings are only available in the summer.