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Cannon, Anthony M.
| Last Name: | Cannon |
|---|---|
| First Name: | Anthony M. |
| Dates: |
*1837 (Date of Birth)
*1895 (Date of Death)
|
| Biography/History: | Anthony M. Cannon of Portland, Oregon filed an 1878 homestead claim, Cannon’s Addition, just south of Glover’s town site. Cannon and John J. Browne became partners. Their lives ran parallel, yet ended very differently. Cannon had grown up poor in Illinois, yet founded Spokane Falls’ first bank and invested in railroads and mills. After the city incorporated as Spokane Falls, Cannon served as a city council member and later as mayor. Cannon and Browne opened the Auditorium Theater with a stage designed to be the largest in the world at the time. Great performers, including Sarah Bernhardt, Ethel Barrymore, and Mark Twain, entertained Spokane audiences from this stage. When the worldwide economic panic struck in 1893, Cannon lost his bank, and then most of his real estate investments to Dutch mortgage holders. He never recovered financially and shortly after his wife died, he married a young widow. Spokane Falls’ society shunned him for this and Cannon fled for New York City, leaving his new wife behind. He died in a hotel room there. |