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Community Corner

The Edmonds Railroad Station

Originally built in 1910, the present Edmonds Railroad Station dates from 1955. After years of decline in passenger rail service, the Edmonds station now enjoys a renaissance as an important hub in the regional transit system.

Edmonds' early growth and development were hampered by the town's relative isolation. 

From early settlement through incorporation as a city in 1890, access to Edmonds was only by water. Roads were little more than paths through the woods, and passenger steamers provided the only transportation up and down Puget Sound.

Talk of a railroad was rampant as early as 1884, when George Brackett platted the town, but it took until 1890 for things to get underway. That was when the Seattle and Montana Railroad, incorporated in March of that year, began roadbed construction for a rail line stretching north from Seattle. The railroad would pass through Edmonds on its way to Canada, where it would connect to the Canadian line running to the east.

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At 5 pm on June 17, 1891 Matthew Hyner was standing in front of his store at the foot of Main Street (see Patch article “”) when he spotted the track laying engine rounding Hamlin’s Point, now Olympic Beach. Word soon went out, and the town gathered along the waterfront to witness this momentous event that was sure to catapult Edmonds into unprecedented prosperity. By late 1891, the tracks were completed and trains ran regularly between Seattle and Bellingham.

The Seattle and Montana Railroad was one of many small lines operating in the late 1800's that would eventually be consolidated into larger operations. One of the largest was the Great Northern Railroad. Formed in 1879 from the consolidation of three smaller Minnesota-based rail lines, it expanded west through Glacier National Park (which it promoted heavily as a tourist attraction), across the continental divide, finally reaching Seattle in 1893. For the first few years the Great Northern leased the Seattle and Montana tracks for trains passing through Edmonds, but in 1907 the Great Northern bought out the smaller company. (Note: The Great Northern is considered to have inspired the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.)

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By this time Edmonds’ shingle mills were running at full capacity, and the town's first business with the railroad was freight. While most of Edmonds' shingles and lumber were still shipped out by water, freight trains began taking on more of their output and opening new markets that could not be reached by boat. (See Patch article “”)

Passenger traffic was another story. Steamers remained the primary conveyance for passengers traveling to and from Edmonds; paved roads were still in the planning stage. The brick-paved North Trunk Road from Seattle (now Aurora Avenue) was completed in 1912, but Edmonds motorists would have to wait until 1915 for the North Trunk Cutoff to finally connect them with this (See Patch article “”). While passenger trains passed through Edmonds on their way to Seattle, Bellingham and Canada, they didn't stop here. All Edmonds residents could do was watch longingly and wave to riders in the passing trains.

This situation ended in 1910 when Edmonds got its first passenger rail station. Service began immediately with twelve passenger trains stopping daily. A railroad brochure praised it as “an attractive new station-spacious, fenced and well lighted” and “North Seattle’s only suburban railway station.” It served until 1956, when it was replaced by the present-day Edmonds station.

But by this time passenger service was in decline. The years following World War II saw a national push for road construction and the advent of the interstate highway system. Automobiles had become more powerful, comfortable and dependable, fuel was cheap, and Americans increasingly chose personal transportation over other modes.

The resulting decrease in passenger rail traffic drove many railroads to cut back or abandon this service altogether. Locally, use of the Edmonds passenger station declined. American songwriter Steve Goodman captured this trend in his famous 1970 ballad “The City of New Orleans.” Made popular by Arlo Guthrie in 1972, the song laments the decline of American rail travel. In response, the US government and the Nixon administration created Amtrak in 1971. Embroiled in political controversy from the beginning, Amtrak nonetheless marks the beginning of the slow resurgence of American passenger rail.

In the ensuing years this trend gathered momentum. Today's high fuel prices, clogged freeways and concerns about resource use and global warming increasingly cause travelers to leave their cars at home and utilize passenger rail and other modes of mass transportation.

In September 1993, the Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority was formed to spearhead mass transit in the Puget Sound Corridor. In 1997, the RTA adopted the name Sound Transit. Among Sound Transit’s priorities is development of a regional rail system, to include commuter trains running north from Seattle on the existing track through Edmonds.

Today, the Edmonds railroad station has taken on a new life as a critical hub in this regional transit system. With the addition of a modern bus transit center adjacent to the station, commuters and travelers now have one-stop access to bus, rail and ferry service. Commuters from Kitsap County and north Snohomish County may now leave their cars behind and travel to their jobs in downtown Seattle and elsewhere through this modern transit hub.

On July 8, 2011 . Linking bus, rail and ferry systems at a single location, the railway station is once again a source of prosperity and civic pride for Edmonds.

For more information, see “The Railroad Comes To Edmonds,” the latest Preservationist newsletter from the Edmonds Historic Preservation Commission.

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