When most people try to characterize Ellensburg these days, they usually describe it as a college town or a charming small town, perhaps a rodeo town or a farming community. But in its earliest days, the city was known by another descriptor—as a railroad town.
Indeed, only a few years after the city was incorporated, in 1883, it gained a railroad, with the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad line to the city on March 31, 1886. The route, which stretched from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound, was the nation’s second transcontinental railroad.
In Washington state, the line’s Cascade Branch entered from Idaho near Spokane, then dropped south to Walla Walla and Pasco before turning north to reach Yakima and Ellensburg. Just north of Easton, the railroad built a 1.8-mile-long, curved tunnel at Stampede Pass, which permitted it to get to the west side of the Cascade Mountains, where it reached Tacoma and Seattle.
Interestingly, when the railroad reached the Yakima area in December 1884, it announced it would not build a depot in the largest community in the region, Yakima City (now Union Gap), but would instead erect a depot about five miles to the north, where it planned to develop a new townsite, originally called North Yakima.
While Yakima City sued and won a judgement that would force the railroad to build its depot in Yakima City, by then many local businesses had already abandoned the community to set up in the new railroad-created town. The railroad had accelerated this process by offering Yakima City landowners as many lots as they owned in the Yakima City in North Yakima for free—plus they would move their buildings at no cost.
While the two communities continued to exist, Yakima City (which had its name changed to Union Gap in 1917) declined in prominence, while the new North Yakima (which shortened its name to Yakima in 1917) became the county seat and experienced solid long-term growth.
As for Ellensburg (known as Ellensburgh until 1894), the arrival of the railroad linked the community, according to Washington historian Paula Becker, “with the wider world for trade and travel.”
Becker said Ellensburg population doubled to 1,200 within two years of the railroad’s arrival. The railroad’s route was directly west of the city’s downtown district. The railroad soon erected a two-story wooden depot and round house on West Third Avenue adjacent to the tracks and within a short time, a handful of businesses cropped up in the vicinity of the railroad line.
In 1910, the original depot building was moved south to be used as a storage facility and the railroad erected a more impressive, two-story brick and sandstone structure (as well as a new round house).
The new depot, which cost between $60,000 and $75,000, was designed in a Spanish Colonial style by the prominent architectural firm of Reed & Stem of St. Paul, Minnesota, which also designed Grand Central Terminal in New York City, the King Street Station in Seattle, and the Tacoma Union Station in Tacoma.
Among the companies locating near the rail line was the Ellensburg Woolen Mill, which erected a substantial two-story brick facility in 1912. The mill, which hoped to process wool from the large number of sheep in the valley, was not financially successful and folded a few years later.
In the 1920s, the building was used for the Kittitas County Fair (before construction of the fairgrounds on the other side of town) and later served as headquarters and as a sawmill for the Boise Cascade Lumber Company (that name is still painted on the building’s eastside). More recently, it has been the home of Inland Boat and Motor.
Since the depot was about three blocks west of the main part of Ellensburg’s commercial district, a number of businesses located along Third Avenue, which was the primary street linking the two. Photos from that time show a number of small cafes and lodging houses on Third. Additionally, the larger downtown hotels would send carriages to the train depot to pick up guests.
An interesting side note to the depot’s story is that while it was being constructed, a local businessman named Henry Kleinberg purchased the land immediately east of the site, on which a large warehouse had been built.
Apparently, Kleinberg (joined by many other local residents) was concerned that passengers arriving at the depot have a good first impression of the community. The warehouse blocked the view of the community from the depot—so he moved the warehouse and donated the vacant land to the city to be used as a park.
Today, the park, which bears his name, remains a pleasant patch of green in a primarily industrial-looking part of the community. To tie the park more closely to the railroad, a vintage, restored caboose was parked on the site several years ago.
In 1906, a second railroad began efforts to build its line through Ellensburg. The Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad (generally known as the Milwaukee Road) purchased land and right-of-way, and began laying track that year. Its first train from Seattle arrived in April 1909.
The Milwaukee Road’s depot was built on Fourteenth Street near Water Street. It was a distinctly more modest structure when compared to the Northern Pacific’s depot.
The route of the Milwaukee Road arrived in Ellensburg from the east and intersected the campus of the new Washington State Normal School (now known as Central Washington University).
In addition to the main depot, the railroad built a railyard, a large freight depot and, later, a smaller depot to the west of the main depot. Today, only the smaller freight depot—now a personal garage—and the larger freight facility—now home to CWU Surplus—remain standing.
The Milwaukee Road, which was an electrified transport system, operated until 1980. In the intervening years, the railroad’s rails and much of its infrastructure has been removed. The route is now known as the Palouse to Cascade Trail (formerly called the John Wayne Trail and the Iron Horse Trail), a non-motorized recreational trail that stretches nearly 300 miles from the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains to the Idaho border.
Other reminders of the Milwaukee Road’s past in Kittitas County include the Kittitas Depot, built in 1909, which is currently being rehabilitated, and the South Cle Elum Depot and Railyard, which has been restored and now serves as a railroad museum and home to the Cle Elum branch of Smokey’s BBQ restaurant.
Adjacent to the South Cle Elum Depot are a substation and several bungalows. The large, red-brick substation is open for tours by appointment while the bungalows remain in private ownership and are not open to the public.
The nearby Iron Horse Inn Bed & Breakfast is located on the site of the original Milwaukee Road bunkhouse, which, sadly burned in 2018. The B & B, however, was built on the same footprint as the original structure and incorporates the 1920s bunkhouse esthetic, but with modern updates. It also contains artifacts and displays describing the Milwaukee Road’s history.
As for the Northern Pacific Railroad’s Ellensburg Depot, at 612 West Third Avenue, after the line (then known as the Burlington Northern Railroad) discontinued service to the community in October 1981, the depot building was leased for use as a restaurant/winery. That venture failed and the 10,000 square-foot building sat vacant for many years.
In the mid-2000s, efforts, mostly supported by private individuals and the Friends of the Northern Pacific Railroad group, began in earnest to raise funds to preserve and restore the iconic brick depot. As a result, the building’s roof was replaced in 2012.
In 2022, following years of slow but steady restoration work, the rehabilitated building was sold to the non-profit group, HopeSource, to serve as its new headquarters in Kittitas County. HopeSource provides access to food, housing, security, and transportation in the county.
Sadly, the former Northern Pacific Roundhouse did not fare as well. The large brick structure, which was also used for storage after 1935, burned in a fire in 1950 and was torn down.
Both the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road greatly contributed to Ellensburg’s economic well-being over the decades they operated. Writing in the Pacific Northwest Quarterly in 1945, local historian Samuel R. Mohler noted that prior to the arrival of the Northern Pacific, “all supplies for the town and for Kittitas County were hauled by wagons from The Dalles in Oregon, 150 miles away.”
According to Mohler, inexpensive rail transportation boosted the Kittitas Valley’s agricultural and livestock industries and later provided a lifeline—with Ellensburg a hub—for the mining industry that began to flourish in the Okanogan and Big Bend country to the north by bringing in the food and supplies needed by the miners and transporting out gold and silver ore to be processed.
“It was this that caused local enthusiasts to speak of Ellensburgh as the ‘Denver’ of Washington,” he wrote.
The arrival of the Milwaukee Road was equally important, according to historian Andrew Caveness, because passengers on the line could travel straight to Seattle over Snoqualmie Pass, which was quicker than taking the Northern Pacific train, which traveled to Tacoma via Stampede Pass, which was north of Seattle.
It is perhaps ironic that Ellensburg, the one-time rail town once serviced by two railroads, no longer has rail passenger service, although some have been working to change that. Occasional freight trains still travel the old route, which would need substantial rebuilding to accommodate passenger travel. Most recent estimates are that it would cost more than $100 million to upgrade the system.
• For more information about the Kittitas Depot, check out the Friends of the Kittitas Depot Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/kittitasdepot/
• For more information about the South Cle Elum Depot and other structures, check out the Cascade Rail Foundation website at: https://www.milwelectric.org/
• For more information about the Iron Horse Inn Bed & Breakfast in South Cle Elum, go to: https://www.ironhorseinnbb.com/
