The new depot, with extended freight room, on Cameron street.
The "439" takes on passengers in Dayton.
Today the Historic Depot sits alongside still-active rail lines.
Two views of the restored interior of the depot - upper floor and lower floor.
The restored Columbia County Courthouse.
Dayton's downtown Main Street, with new curbs, sidewalks and trees.
Inside the new Liberty Theater.
The Boldman House Museum.
(Color photos by Brian Graham. Historic photos courtesey of the Dayton Historical Depot Society.)
The Dayton Depot: First a Transportation Hub, Then an Historic Inspiration
The project to restore the Dayton Depot began more than 30 years ago. It initiated an extraordinary surge of historic preservation in Dayton that continues.
Story by Ken Graham
In 1881, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company constructed a train depot on the west side of Dayton near what is now Port of Columbia property. Eight years later the building and the rail line were taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad. Ten years after that, in 1899, the nearly-new depot building was put on rollers made of logs and moved across town (and across the Touchet River!) to the corner of Second and Commercial Streets.
The old Union Pacific Depot served Dayton well for the first three-quarters of the twentieth century. Passenger trains served Dayton until the late 1930s. (The Northern Pacific Railroad also had a depot in Dayton. It was later moved to South Fourth Street and converted to a duplex.) Dayton has continued to be served by freight trains since, but in 1971 the UP closed its depot here.
With the abandoned depot building slated for demolition in 1974, a group of Dayton citizens formed the Dayton Historical Depot Society, with the aim of saving and restoring the old building. The railroad company originally requested a $24,000 purchase price for the depot. But after an extensive letter-writing campaign by local residents, and with the public support of State legislative leader Hubert Donohue of Dayton, the Union Pacific relented and agreed to donate the depot building to the Depot Society in 1975.
The original Dayton Historical Depot Society's Board of Directors included Ron Williams, its President, along with Harriet Weatherford Brownlee, Eric Colville, Gladys Fletcher, Dave Seibel and Richard White. The group embarked on a fund-raising campaign that eventually raised over $200,000. This included about $100,000 in local donations, as well as nearly $100,000 from the State of Washington.
Restoration work on the depot began in 1976. Work included stripping and replacing the roof, repairing and painting the exterior and interior of the building, updating plumbing and wiring and completely re-landscaping the grounds. On July 19, 1981, the Dayton Historical Depot Society held a celebration to unveil the nearly completed restoration and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the depot's construction.
Since the renovation was completed, the old depot has become a major Dayton landmark. It is a museum which houses many historic pieces of furniture and artwork. The Depot Society owns a major archive of historic photos from Dayton and Columbia County which is kept in the Depot. Special exhibits of historic artifacts and photos are shown regularly in the depot. And its courtyard is a popular spot for community functions, weather permitting.
As renovation of the depot was being completed in the early 1980s, other groups in Dayton were beginning to eye some of the historic buildings here as possible renovation projects. A group was formed in 1982 to raise money for restoration of the Columbia County Courthouse – the oldest operating courthouse in the state. Over $2 million was eventually raised. Construction began in 1990, and the beautiful result of the restoration work was unveiled in 1993.
In the 1980s, another group – the Dayton Development Task Force – was formed and led the effort to rebuild and beautify Dayton's downtown Main Street. Along with complete reconstruction of the street, curbs, sidewalks and utilities by the state of Washington, new London plane trees were planted in front of many of Dayton's historic Main Street buildings. Work on the Main Street project was completed in the early 1990s, and it has been an inspiration to many Main Street building owners to restore their building fronts. Soon after, most of Dayton's Main Street was named an Historic District by the state of Washington.
In the mid-1990s, the Dayton Development Task Force took on a new project – restoration of Dayton's Liberty Theater. The donated building, across from the court house, was in very poor condition, and it was gutted and its roof completely removed. After raising nearly $1 million, the Task Force undertook reconstruction of the theater with modern-day comforts and technology, while retaining a configuration as close to the original as possible. The restored theater opened in 2001 and has since shown movies weekly, as well as hosting live performances, including a fall musical each year.
When Gladys Boldman died in 1999, she willed her historic home on First Street in Dayton to the Dayton Historical Depot Society. She also provided a generous endowment for its restoration and upkeep. The Depot Society is in the process of completing restoration of the home, including recreating its beautiful historic wallpaper. It will soon provide a wonderful new museum for Dayton. In April 2008, the Depot society will celebrate Gladys Boldman's 100th birthday with an open house at the new Boldman House Museum.
The old wooden train station was built only ten years after Dayton was founded. It has served the town not only as an important transportation hub for 90 years, but as an historical landmark and museum for 30 more, and as the catalyst for the creation of what is now almost universally known as "Historic Dayton".
Copyright (c) 2008, Blue Mountain News