Depot fundraising effort begins

The effort to save Cheney’s former Northern Pacific train station from the wrecking ball is kicking off a major fundraising campaign, part of which includes a name change.

What was formerly known as Save Our Station is now called the Cheney Depot Society, with Eastern Washington University archivist and railroad-enthusiast Dr. Charles Mutschler serving as president. The society is in the process of completing its non-profit status application, and is beginning to get other aspects of fundraising into place.

Part of that has been getting businesses and individuals with the financial capabilities to begin taking up Cheney-native Dr. Peter Hansen’s offer to match donations up to $500,000. Hansen, who currently lives in Kenai, Alaska, was born and raised in Cheney and his family owned a number of businesses including Hansen’s Hardware, Hansen’s Clothing as well as a gas station and a barbershop. The family still has properties in Cheney.

Mutschler said they’ve talked to a number of people about the effort to save the 86-year-old station. All of them have been receptive to the effort, but want to see someone else come forward with a large donation before they do.

“It’s that chicken and egg thing,” Cheney Depot Society member and City Councilman John Taves said. “We’re trying to get the chicken to hatch.”

The society took a significant step forward last week when Cheney Farmers Insurance owner and Councilman Doug Nixon made out a $5,000 check to the station efforts. Nixon hopes it will be the start of a truly community-wide preservation effort.

“This project is something for all of the city, not just a few businesses,” Nixon said. “I want this to succeed. It would be a great thing to have.”

Taves said he is also donating $500, with that money earmarked to cover the group’s 501 (c) 3 non-profit application, thus freeing up other donations to go towards the station. Besides businesses in the area, the Cheney Depot Society will also be reaching out to other community non-profit organizations as well as the community itself. That effort includes donation canisters in local businesses, with information cards about the depot available in a side pouch in each canister.

Mutschler said there are a lot of good reasons why preserving the depot is essential. Opened in 1929, the station’s uniqueness lies in its architectural style, which is a Spanish style typical of depots in the Southwest rather than the Northwest.

The reason that occurred is a product of an individual Mutschler termed as Cheney’s “boy made good” — Clarence Martin. Martin’s family owned the Martin Flour and Milling Company on land now occupied by the ADM mill, and it was a major shipper on the Northern Pacific line.

Martin served as a Cheney councilman, mayor and Washington state governor, becoming the first Washington-born and first Eastern Washington-born individual to occupy the governor’s mansion. It was Martin, Mutschler said, who lobbied the Northern Pacific to build the depot in a unique style.

“Northern Pacific didn’t tend to build custom stations for ‘X’ number of places,” he added.

That depot carries a lot of sentimental value for Hansen, who said as a kid he used to mow Martin’s lawn. Hansen’s grandfather pastured horses in Cheney that he rented to the Northern Pacific for its railroad maintenance work. The depot served as an arrival and departure point for many residents as well as students coming to attend EWU’s predecessors.

“My brother-in-law came here from Montana in 1956,” Hansen said. “He got off at the station and walked up the street (College Avenue) with his duffel bag and started college.”

The depot’s current owners, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, have filed for demolition permits, but said they wouldn’t pursue anything until efforts to move the station have been exhausted. Taves said the society has an estimate of $170,000 to remove, move and remount the station on a new foundation, and have a couple locations they are eyeing.

He also said the State Office of Historical Preservation is very interested in the project, and he hopes to interest BNSF in supporting their efforts through a donation —a donation of a different kind.

“They’ve said it would cost $19,000 to demolish it,” Taves said. “We figure it’s worth at least $19,000 to take it off their hands.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.