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Cage 243
Cyrus Bradley
Papers, 1882-1915
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| Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections Pullman, WA 99164-5610 USA (509) 335-6691 Inquiries |
Cage 243
Cyrus Bradley
Papers, 1882-1915
The papers of Cyrus Bradley (b. 1852), a Spokane, Washington, real estate developer and investor of the city's formative period, were acquired by Washington State University Library prior to a 1955 inventory of manuscript collections. In 1956 the papers were arranged by Mary Avery and Nancy Koehler Feichter. Their arrangement was altered slightly and a register was prepared by Lawrence Stark in September and October, 1974. At this time the papers of Cyrus Bradley's father, Captain John Bradley, were removed to form a separate collection, Cage 153.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
The son of a riverboat operator of moderate wealth from Dayton, Ohio, Cyrus Bradley spent his young adulthood moving about the American West in various capacities until he located in Spokane Falls in 1883. There he founded a newspaper, the Spokane Miner, with his brother-in-law, Graham B. Dennis. Shortly, however, they abandoned the paper to concentrate on a venture in urban real estate development which largely centered on "Dennis and Bradley's Addition." A highly successful venture in the late 1880's and early 1890's, the addition became involved in financial difficulties in the mid-1890's, as did Bradley's investments in Spokane's Second Railroad Addition and in the Ross Park Street Railroad and the Washington Water Power Company. Narrowly escaping failure, Bradley emerged from the depression of the 1890's as a modest trader and investor in real estate, mining properties and irrigation projects. His investments were no longer concentrated in Spokane, but scattered throughout the West, and even included some as far away as Florida. One of Spokane's leading figures in his days as town boomer, Bradley spent his later years simply trying to earn a modest income. He remained active in philanthropic and social work organizations, but he never again became one of the powerful leaders of the city. Instead his main concern seems to have been the welfare of the family of his brother-in-law and ex-partner, Graham B. Dennis, who did not manage even a modest recovery from the financial turmoils of the 1890's.
DESCRIPTION AND ARRANGEMENT
The Cyrus Bradley papers consist of correspondence, business records, legal documents and a few personal items. The correspondence from Bradley's later years predominates and is mainly concerned with financing and trading real estate and mining properties. The papers are arranged in three series which separate the various types of papers: (1) correspondence, (2) business records, and (3) personal items. Within each series, items are organized chronologically.
CONTAINER LIST