Residents of Cheney are trying to save the historic train station from the wrecking ball.

Save our Station is an organization raising funds and awareness to relocate the station.

The station is currently boarded up and surrounded by tracks on either side. Proximity to other live train tracks prevent the building from being accessible to the public. Since Burlington Northern Sanfe Fe Railway has no use for the building, and it is unusable in its current spot, it must be moved to be preserved.

Save our Station member and university archivist at Eastern, Charles Mutschler, Ph.D., said the former site of the Union 76 building and the former site of the Beehive are the two they are most interested in.

“They’re both on First Street … we want this to be visible,” Mutschler said.

In 2014, BNSF had already postponed their demolition plans so Save our Station could come up with a proposal to save the building. Now, BNSF is giving them some more time to raise the money they need to carry out the proposal.

Save our Station has a goal of $1 million dollars to raise over the course of the next year or so. A benefactor close to the project, Peter O. Hansen, Ph.D., agreed to match any dollar amount raised, effectively driving the goal down to half a million.
The train station has ties to Eastern throughout its history. Back in the early 1900s, students attending Eastern would arrive primarily by train. After catching up with friends at the station, students would make their way toward College Avenue. From there, they would walk their belongings up the road and eventually arrive right in front of Showalter Hall where they would register for classes.

Downtown Cheney functioned as a transportation hub for students. El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant used to be the home of a trolley station capable of taking students into Spokane said Save our Station member and city council member John Taves.

The train station was also the vehicle for Cheney’s only visit from the President of the United States. In 1950, President Harry S. Truman visited Cheney on his way home from dedicating the Grand Coulee Dam. During his visit, he walked through campus and shook hands with Donald Williams, the dean of associate students at Eastern Washington Teacher’s School.

Former student of Eastern Thomas Davis holds lots of memories about the train station. Davis recalls the immense amount of responsibility that came with being the station telegrapher. He had to receive train freight, care for passengers and direct train traffic all at the age of 18. Train communication was done by morse code which Davis will detail at the Cheney Public Library on March 12.

If the depot is moved, its use it still uncertain. What is certain is the large effort put forth by these Cheney residents to save their station.

“Its an important part of the historical development of the university and Cheney,” Taves said.