Train station part of Rathdrum’s past

RATHDRUM – It hasn’t seen a train in decades, but Rathdrum’s old Milwaukee Railroad Station was once the hub of passenger travel on the prairie.

Soon it could be restored and reinvented. The owners have placed the station and surrounding property on the market at a price of $229,000, but are also leaving open the possibility that a current partner will move forward with renovations on the property.

The more than 100-year-old building is just a shell of what it once was – the interior was gutted long ago and converted to a private residence – but the outside structure remains largely intact.

Careful observers will note the old ticket window and can envision the former passenger platform.

Plans call for improving the interior of the 1906 station in its current residential use and adding two duplexes to neighboring lots the owners are working with the city to subdivide from the property between McCartney and Mill Streets, facing Canal Street.

Rathdrum Prairie residents looking to travel to Spokane in the 1920s would board the train at this station, said Rathdrum-Westwood Historical Society President Eleni Schumacher.

It was the best way to comfortably travel from Rathdrum to surrounding communities.

The rail line no longer exists, but some remnants can still be found on the prairie.

The current owners bought the station and surrounding property two years ago, but the current real estate market has left them and their partner in the project a bit short on cash.

Owner Craig Hunter said he still hopes to move forward with plans to restore the station as a residence and office and to build architecturally complementary duplexes on the property.

Schumacher said she also hopes that happens. She and other historical advocates were pleased with the original plans.

“We’re kind of disheartened that it’s up for sale because you never know what will happen to it,” she said. “Not everyone loves historical buildings the way we do.”