Editing Spokane, Washington (section)

===Second half of the 20th century===
[[File:Expo '74, Spokane, Washington, looking northeast.tif|thumb|alt=Expo '74 in Riverfront Park|[[Expo '74]] in [[Riverfront Park (Spokane, Washington)|Riverfront Park]]]]

After decades of stagnation and slow growth, Spokane businessmen formed Spokane Unlimited in the early 1960s, an organization that sought to revitalize downtown Spokane.<ref>Stratton (2005), pp. 211–212</ref> A recreation park showcasing the [[Spokane Falls]] was the preferred option, and after successful negotiation to relocate the railroad facilities on Havermale Island,<ref name="WorldsFair">Stratton (2005), p. 215</ref> they executed on a proposal to host the first [[Environmentalism|environmentally]] themed [[World's Fair]] in [[Expo '74]] on May 4, becoming the smallest city at the time to host a World's Fair.<ref>Stratton (2005), p. 207</ref><ref name="CC">{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Knute |date=November 6, 2012 |title=Preserving state's heritage: Why Spokane is central |url=http://crosscut.com/2012/11/06/mossback/111332/preserving-states-heritage-spokanes-importance |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109111928/http://crosscut.com/2012/11/06/mossback/111332/preserving-states-heritage-spokanes-importance/ |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |access-date=December 7, 2014 |publisher=Crosscut Public Media |df=mdy-all}}</ref> This event transformed Spokane's downtown, removing a century of railroad infrastructure and re-inventing the urban core. After Expo '74, the fairgrounds became the {{convert|100|acre|ha|adj=on}} Riverfront Park.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wilma |first=David |title=Expo 74 Spokane World's Fair opens on May 4, 1974 |work=Essay 5133 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=January 27, 2003 |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5133| access-date = December 7, 2014}}</ref>

The growth witnessed in the late 1970s and early 1980s was interrupted by another U.S. recession in 1981, in which silver, timber, and farm prices dropped.<ref name="Diverse">Schmeltzer (1988), p. 87</ref> The period of decline for the city lasted into the 1990s and was also marked by a loss of many steady family-wage jobs in the manufacturing sector.<ref name="Thumbnail"/> At this time, market forces began to impact the local [[Kaiser Aluminum]] plant and layoffs, pension cuts, a 1998–1999 labor strike, and eventually bankruptcy in 2002 followed.<ref name=Essay10119>{{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Jim |title=Spokane Valley — Thumbnail History |work=Essay 10119 |publisher=HistoryLink |date=May 25, 2012 |url=http://historylink.org/File/10119| access-date = January 11, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Thumbnail"/> Although this was a tough period, Spokane's economy had started to benefit from some measure of economic diversification; growing companies such as [[Key Tronic]] and other research, marketing, and assembly plants for technology companies helped lessen Spokane's dependence on natural resources.<ref name="Diverse"/>