Research by members of Historic Ellensburg is gradually adding substance to a chronology of events surrounding the old Northern Pacific Railroad station in Ellensburg, Washington. A large portion of what follows was culled from hours spent scanning microfilms of old newspaper accounts. We will be adding to this historical sketch as research permits. Credits for dates and quotes will be found either within the paragraph structure, or at the end of the paragraph.

The story of the station is entwined with the story of the railroad. In brief, the Northern Pacific Railroad was created by an Act of Congress. The Act provided for a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. It gave the railroad a, “Land Grant, (of), 47,000,000 acres” and, “cancelled any land titles along the route that had been given to the Indians”. The Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1864. “Much of (the) route was planned to follow the the route of the famed 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition..”. Burlington Northern History

Due to the Civil War and financing problems groundbreaking did not occur until February 15, 1870. Work crews heading West from Thomsons Junction, (approximately 30 miles Southwest of Duluth, Minnesota), faced relatively flat land up to the Bridger Mountains of Montana. The West side crews, (largely Chinese), were working East from Pasco tunneling through the main divide of the rockies at Mullen Pass. The two crews met on August 23, 1883 at Hell Gate Canyon about 55 miles West of Helena, Montana. Work began on the last stretch from Pasco to Seattle in 1884. “There was no particular problem from Pasco to the town of Thrall just South of Ellensburg. Then started the hard work as they went up the mountains”. Until the tunnel was completed at Stampede Pass trains mounted the pass and decended the other side by means of switchbacks; the engines pulling on one switchback then backing up on the next until the top was reached then going down switch backs the same way on the other side. On May 27, 1887 the timbering throughout the Stampede Pass tunnel was completed, “and the first train rolled through”. op. cit.

The reader will remember the Midwest terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad as Chicago, not Duluth. However, it was not until 1901that the NP and the Great Northern jointly purchased the Chicago Burlington and Quincy, providing the two lines with “direct access to Chicago..”. The reader can download more complete histories on the following websites:
Burlington Northern History
More Burlington Northern History

Local newspaper accounts at the turn of the 20th century suggest an Ellensburg public at odds with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Business people, through the Chamber of Commerce, were demanding, “fast Train”, service. Local, “milk”’ train schedules simply did not meet the needs of an up and coming business community. Others in town were ashamed of the shabby old wood station at the foot of 4th. Avenue. It did not reflect the new brick buildings emerging from the fire of July 4, 1889, nor the pride of townspeople, who had rebuilt the downtown following the fire. That these two issues came to solutions in the same year, 1910, is testimony not only to public pressure, but possibly to the presence of another railroad building West.

The Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad (“Milwaukee Road”) a very successful regional line, began to shadow the Northern Pacific to Puget Sound. Coming directly West from Lind, Washington through Ellensburg, the Milwaukee Road cut approximately 100 miles off the distance between Spokane and Seattle. Furthermore, the Milwaukee eventually added the competitive edge of electric engines through the Rocky Mountains between Avery, Idaho and Harlowton, Montana, and through the Cascade Mountains between Othello and Seattle, Washington. ( Electrification through the mountains is a story within itself. Interested readers are provided the following websites:
Fruit From Washington Site
Milwaukie Electric Site

As the Milwaukee Road began to buy up right-of-way and lay track, local newspaper accounts, (Evening Record), hinted at cooperative outcomes between the two railroads. The Northern Pacific whose track moved from Spokane south to Pasco, West to Yakima then North to Ellensburg, would use the Milwaukee rails between Lind and Ellensburg and the Milwaukee railroad would use the N.P. tracks between Lind and Spokane. There were even comments that the two railroads might also share the Northern Pacific station in Spokane.

The reality, however, was two railroads in head-to-head competition, serving many of the same towns across the plains and through the mountains. During the years 1908-10 the Northern Pacific hinted at laying its own track between Lind, (or Ritzville), and Ellensburg even sending closed mouth survey crews to Lind, Ritzville, and Ellensburg. “We really don’t know what work is laid out for us said an engineer today, but I’ve heard that a cut-off is to be built out of here, (Ellensburg) someplace”, (Evening Record, 12/27/1909).

Whether the competition scenario is entirely responsible for a new station and fast train service in Ellensburg, there is no doubt about the changes in rail service after 1910. The citizens of Ellensburg did their part. Third street was paved to its terminus at the new Northern Pacific station, and B Street was extended North to the new Milwaukee Station. Citizen action, whether in cooperation or confrontation was testament, at the time, to the monopolistic importance of railroads.

Trains were the only fast movers of just about everything tangible; including mail, and even small town athletic teams going to scheduled games and returning the same day. Intangibles like business efficiencies, engineering/product development, news, ideas, events, interests, myths, stories, music and eventually films followed the rails into the creative imagination. The railroad station became the hub nationwide. It was a place of, “excitement and anticipation”, observed one Ellensburg citizen.

The building of Ellensburg’s new depot was assured by N.P. officials toward the end of 1908. The Evening Record of 12/28/1908, reported an estimated cost of $52,000. There was some factional discussion around town as to placement of the new station. Some favored tearing down the old station at the foot of 4th Avenue and erecting a new one on that site. Others, particularly those owning close by properties, wanted a siting elsewhere. The newspaper paraphrased still others who believed the station would go, “where the Northern Pacific wanted it to go.” The 3rd Avenue site was eventually selected by the Railroad sometime around mid year, 1909.

Construction began in 1909, but there were delays. Most publicized was the flooding that occurred in November. The flood not only brought rail schedules to a standstill in all of central Washington, but filled the “basement excavation” of the new station with such a flow of water that, “. . . two gasoline pumps with paddle lifts, working two shifts, were unable to keep the water down. A large centrifugal pump (was) installed (and) operated by a steam engine. The whole outfit was brought . . . from Lewiston by John Halloran, the contractor in charge of the station.” (Evening Record, 12/1/09) As scheduled railroad traffic slowly returned, work on the station resumed. The first course of bricks for the North end of the station was laid in late November as flood waters receded.

“Finishing Work Done on Depot”; read the headline of an article in the Evening Record of June 8, 1910. “Plasterers and Italians who are putting the finishing touches to the interior of the Northern Pacific depot hope to complete their work by the end of the month. A series of unforeseen delays has held up work to some extent, but the depot will be ready for the public early in August. The tiffany brick wainscoting in the lunch room and waiting rooms and hall to baggage room is now laid. The finishing coat of hard plaster has been spread by the gang now at work and men are now setting ornamental plaster of Paris moldings in the ceiling. The Mosaic floor has been laid in the dining room, and is partly completed in the waiting rooms and corridors. The upper floor of the building has been wired and plastered and windows and floor is all that is needed to make the office rooms ready for occupancy.”

The predicted August opening was apparently a bit optimistic. An article in the Evening Record of October 2, 1910 noted a letter from N.P. officials to the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce stating that the depot would open to the public on October 31. According to the article, “Several prominent businessmen, when interviewed today, expressed themselves as in favor of holding a big banquet on that night and inviting prominent men from all over the state to be present. Let us celebrate a new era in Ellensburg, said one businessman, celebrate the improvements made, such as paving, new buildings and the like . . . invite prominent publicity men from all over . . . advertise what Ellensburg has accomplished during the past year. Make this a big event.”

The celebration did occur, apparently arranged and promoted by the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce. “. . . the railroad company having left this matter to Ellensburg people to decide” (Evening Record, 10/2/1910). The seeming lack of interest in being a major player in such celebration may reflect arrogant posturing in an era when the railroad was not only the most efficient overland method of transportation, but the only rapid means of overland transportation. However the new station was viewed by Northern Pacific moguls, it became, “our station”. It was, “what Ellensburg has accomplished during the past year”, in the minds of local citizens.

If 1910 was the heyday of passenger rail service in Ellensburg, the dominance of this form of rapid transportation was coming to a close. The Milwaukee Road’s Pacific division was never able to establish a competitive position in spite of electrification through the mountains, and careful attention to roadbed improvement and maintenance. It was permitted to cease passenger service in 1961 and, “halt all service on 4,600 of 9,500 miles of track in February of 1980. One thousand and 11 miles of roadbed was abandoned in Washington State”, (Daily Record, February 26, 1980). (The consolidation/abandonment of railroads is portrayed schematically by the ; Family Tree of North American Railroads.) But much more than the overbuilding of railroads was the emergence of technologies that led to the development of two other means of fast travel.

The automobile, looking less like a buggy, and becoming more reliable, was capturing the public imagination. By 1909 adventuresome local auto owners had made it over Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle in three or four days. The New York to Seattle automobile race prompted the Kittitas County Commissioners to have the road to the Pass, “in the best possible order... when the racers pass through...in June...” (The Evening Record, 1/19/09). The Commissioners were characteristically cautious, “...no repairs would be commenced at the present time as the rocks and other debris...the worst features...would again accumulate before the racers arrived...”. op. cit.

Flying machines in 1909 were stick and wire, dangerous and unreliable; mostly an attraction at fairgrounds. By the end of the next decade, (1920), the evolution of travel to private automobile, and multi engine aircraft was well underway. The internal combustion engine was becoming increasingly efficient, reliable, and easily manufactured. Oil, and its main derivative, gasoline, was conveniently and abundantly at hand.

In the decades following WW II the railroads were lobbying Congress to allow them to drop their money losing passenger service. Congress eventually acquiesced, and established AMTRAC in an effort to maintain passenger rail service. The name AMTRAC is the blending of the words ‘American’ and ‘Track. (Amtrak information can be found on the web at AMTRAC ).

AMTRAC began service nationally on May 1, 1971; the route through Ellensburg on May 3rd. “Would you believe one minute early for the first Amtrak passenger train to stop in Ellensburg”, So began a Daily Record article about 15 months after the Supreme Court approved the merger of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Burlington, Spokane Portland & Seattle, and Pacific Coast Railroads, (the latter usually referred to as the Frisco). The merged companies were now the Burlington Northern, and the old N.P. Depot Ellensburg’s Amtrak station. Passed into history, the Daily Record went on, was N.P.’s, “North Coast Limited,..the Alaskan, and...the Mainstreeter”. Gone since 1961 the article concluded were, “The Milwaukee Road’s Olympian, Columbian and Olympian Hiawatha passenger trains”. Within two generations passenger trains, once the only means of rapid transit, were replaced by auto and bus traffic on Interstate Highways. Airline travel became the rapid means of long distance transit allowing all regions of the country to be reached t in a matter of hours.

Congressional legislation recognized the continued need for passenger rail service. However, in establishing AMTRAC, Congress failed to place it within a general transportation budget that recognized taxpayer support of critical infrastructure, (“House kills mass transit”, UPI Story reported in the Daily Record for October 6, 1972). Congress, in fact, demanded that AMTRAC reach parity between income and expense. It has never happened, and the ensuing yearly political struggle over congressional support of AMTRAC resulted in the abandonment of many major AMTRAC services in the futile hope of reaching parity. The Stampede pass route through Ellensburg was one such service.

“The last Amtrak train is pulling out of Ellensburg”, so began the lead article in the Daily Record for October 26, 1981. “...the end of AMTRAK brought to a close 95 years of passenger train service...” Other comments seemed like voices from 1909-1910. “The train company planned no ceremony to cap the end of its decade of service...the people of Ellensburg conducted their own...’ ‘The Chamber of Commerce bought a block of tickets...for the last trip...other residents brought the total to some 70 to 80 Ellensburg residents...”. “The depot to stand empty”, capped the headline.

Burlington Northern officials made one final statement regarding the depot. It would be placed with railroad recognized realtors and sold to private investors. In point of fact the Burlington Northern Railroad was gradually shutting down the Stampede Route between Seattle and Pasco. The process of public announcements began prior to the end of AMTRAC service through Ellensburg, (Daily Record quoting UPI sources, 6/1/81).

The depot, now sitting empty, was being vandalized. Photos of depot trashing accompanied by articles of possible demolition of the structure began the first of August 1985, in the Ellensburg Daily Record, and ran continuously through September 12th of that year. A BN spokesman, “said that BN negotiated with several parties who planned to turn the station into restaurants...shops, but all deals fell through...”. At the same time the article included comments from a local business man who had applied for a demolition permit and was in the process of buying the depot from the railroad. He claimed “ no definite plans for the area”, but would not clarify when asked why, “ he (was) seeking demolition”. The Ellensburg City Council was expected to put the “three month review into effect”. They wanted to look at, “... the (possibility) of other options”.

Public outcry was intense. “Nearly fifty people turned out”, for the City Council meeting on Monday, August 19, 1985---”one from as far away as Boise, Idaho”. “The vote to delay demolition was unanimous”, (Daily Record article for August 20, 1985). The demolition threat evaporated on August 27, 1985 when Mayor Larry Nickel received a letter from the Burlington Northern Railroad indicating their withdrawal of, “ the request for a demolition permit”.

Previous to the withdrawal of the demolition request by the BN, the owners of the Ellensburg Daily Record, (August 21, 1985) had offered to buy the depot. “Our only interest is in saving it...the newspaper would buy the building then turn it over at cost---or possibly nothing---to a developer or community organization which would restore it”. The newspaper did send a “written offer” for the depot to, “BN officials”, but had heard nothing from the railroad as late as October 18, 1985. The BN made a public statement on October 19, (Daily Record), suggesting that the railroad was working with “several” party's on the sale of the depot. The Daily Record offer was apparently not in consideration at any time.

The depot did change hands. A group of local businessmen calling themselves, Iron Horse Properties, bought the station from Burlington Northern for $63,000 in 1987. Jurgen and Julie Greib, vintners, leased a portion of the depot for a wine business; Cascade Mountain Cellars. How long the Greibs occupied the station is unknown. The property was then sold to Roger and Linda Hoff for $75,000 in 1990. The Hoffs were the owners who placed the depot on the National Register of Historic Places, (August 13, 1991). The present owners, David and Karen Bean purchased the property in December, 1991 for $105,000.

The last known lessees of the property, Kittitas County Action Council Inc., a local nonprofit human services agency, vacated the building at the end of August, 1998. It has been empty since that date, and is deteriorating more rapidly with every departing year. (A National Register copy: Northern Pacific Railway Passenger Depot, OMB No. 1024-0018, Can be obtained from the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, 111 21st. Ave. SW,MS: KL-11, Olympia WA 98504)

There is no casting of blame. The depot is a victim of history, tidied up from time to time to serve an immediate purpose only to be emptied again. Structural problems were treated cosmetically. One of the administrators of the Kittitas County Action Council laughed when he said, “The pigeons drove us out”. The birds had gained entrance through broken attic windows and open eaves.

Whatever the arguments over care, disuse was more likely the major cause of the deterioration. As cars, trucks, and buses took over more local transport, and passenger train schedules were trimmed, the railroads were less inclined to give stations the attentions they needed. This became more apparent as the railroads began political actions that eventually led to the dropping of passenger service altogether. With the departure of AMTRAC the Ellensburg Depot like many others became a ghost of the past. Yet, in spite of its history, “...(it) retains remarkable integrity”, as the Hoff’s observed in their application to get the station on the National Register of Historic Places.

The integrity that the Hoff’s saw in the depot is also reflected in Ellensburg’s historic downtown, a downtown that local citizens see as the hub of the community. City governments responding to recent growth established the area immediately to the West of the historic downtown as a commercial II zone. The zoning will allow business expansion as part and protector of the downtown hub. The railway and depot lie on the western edge of the CCII zone, and many are beginning to see a restored depot as the defining piece of historic architecture on the West side of the downtown. With its adjoining pocket park it could become a tourist attraction, a great place for planned events, home for commercial or public service agencies, maybe a transportation center once again.

Nationwide rejuvenation of distressed historic buildings or distressed city areas has energized local economies rather than draining them. Historic Ellensburg, the organization, recognized this, and in 1999 with the support of the Ellensburg City Council and the help of its staffs, wrote an application for a TEA-21 grant of $260,000 for the purchase and weatherization of the old depot. The City was written in as the grantee. The grant was approved dependent on matching funds and a 20 year lease of the railroad land on which the depot sits.

Historic Ellensburg raised the matching money, (mostly from local citizens), between the spring of 1999 and the Fall of 2000. Ellensburg City Staff efforts produced the 20 year lease from the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad in 2001. Negotiations between the City of Ellensburg, (the grantee), and David Bean, the current owner of the depot , are now underway over the sale of the building.