Then and Now: Tracks to Union Station

Spokane’s Union Station took more than a decade of work by Robert E. Strahorn and others to create a multi-line passenger depot and his own project, the North Coast Railway, which he hoped would be the fastest route from Spokane to Portland.

Section:Gallery

Mon., July 27, 2020

1973: Shown just before they were torn down for Expo ’74, elevated tracks in the foreground carried trains to and from Union Station, the downtown depot for the Union Pacific, Milwaukee Road and other lines. The station sat where the Red Wagon play structure is today. The massive steel trestle cost $1.5 million to build in 1914. By the 1970s, passenger traffic had decreased dramatically and the rail infrastructure was seen as a visual blight on the scenic riverfront. In the background are the tracks of the Great Northern Railroad, which led to a depot on Havermale Island. All the tracks were removed for the world’s fair.

Cowles Publishing
Present day: The west end of Riverfront Park, with amenities like the Numerica Skate Ribbon & Sky

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review