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Overview

This 1890 depot of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway Company (S, LS and E) Passenger Depot in Snoqualmie, WA, still existed in 2020, at 38625 SE King Street, Snoqualmie, WA 98065.

Building History

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway Company operated for only about seven years as an independent entity. It began to organize financially in 1884 and commenced operations after 1885. It linked Seattle, WA, with the small town of Ballard to the northwest at first and, by about 1890, to the popular tourist attraction of Snoqualmie Falls.

Before 08/02/2023, PCAD reported that this station operated between c. 1887-1904. This was incorrect. The station had a very long period of service, beginning in 1890. The Northwest Railway Museum said of the Snoqualmie Station: "The depot is the oldest continuously operating train station in Washington State, and was used by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, Seattle and International Railway, Northern Pacific Railway, and Burlington Northern Railroad until the 1970s. In 1977, the Burlington Northern donated the depot and 3.5 miles of track to the Northwest Railway Museum." (See Northwest Railway Museum.org, "Railroad History Exhibit The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway The Snoqualmie Depot," accessed 08/02/2023.)

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern operated the depot for only two years before it was taken over by its one-time rival the Northerm Pacific. The Depression of 1893 drastically curtailed commerce for about four years and forced the Northern Pacific to divest itself of the bankrupt line in 05/1896. Investors reformed the railroad very briefly as the "Seattle and International Railroad," but the Northern Pacific circled back to reabsorb the line by about 1901. It functioned as a Northern Pacific (and later the Burlington Northern) depot into the 1970s. The Burlington Northern gave the building and 3.5 miles of approaching track to the a new entity, the Northwest Railway Museum in 1977.

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway spent $4,200 on the depot in Snoqualmie, a larger investment than other stops on the line. Administrators believed that Snoqualmie Falls would become a popular tourist spot, and therefore the depot deserved greater architectural embellishment. (See Northwest Railway Museum.org, "The Seattle Lake Shore and Eastern Railway" accessed 10/25/2023.)

Building Notes

This Queen Anne Style railroad station had a long, low profile, topped by a gable roof. Deep eaves supported by squared posts sheltered passengers waiting for trains. One end of the roof curved to provide coverage for travelers. The roofline of the track side facade had a brow dormer, a gabled dormer and an octagonal turret. The building had many of the decorative features common to the Queen Anne style, including a picturesque, asymmetrical composition of forms, seen particularly well at the roofline with its rounded brow dormer, gabled dormer and octagonal turret. Brick chimneys also had the picturesque sculpting common for the period. The gabled dormer of the east facade had a decorative bargeboard and wrought-iron finials marked the peak of the depot's gabled roof. Pairs of decorative brackets jutted from each column supporting the porch overhang. (The absence of decorative turned posts as columns, however, departed from the ornate Queen Anne manner.) Additionally, like Queen Anne buildings of the period, the roofline demonstrated variety of color, as two shades of shingles were used to sheath the roof. Window trim was painted a contrasting white to stand out from the thin, clapboard siding.

The building's long, low form, with rounded building walls, recalled other train depots built in the East during the 1880s, including some done in Queen Anne and Shingle Style modes.

The depot's long dimension was laid out roughly north to south. The rounded room on the north end housed a men's waiting area. Because of the smoking, spitting and coarse language common in male spaces of the time, women and children were separated in their own waiting area to the south. The interior was faced in 1x3 Douglas fir, tongue-and-groove boards, and fir planks composed the floor, wood all likely milled nearby. When viewed from the east (track) side, the freight room's doors can be distinguised by their cross-bracing. An elevated platform enabled freight to be off-loaded from trains directly to the floor level of the freight room.

PCAD id: 14592