Depot relocation gathers steam

The relocation of Cheney's 87-year-old train depot has taken another step towards reality with the apparent acquisition of property by the group spearheading the effort.

Cheney Depot Society volunteers have announced two separate land agreements along First Street, one a donation of property at First and Union streets while the other is a successful auction bid on the adjacent property at First and I. Combined, the two provide just under 40,000 square feet of land between First Street and railroad tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Eastern Washington Gateway, operator of a portion of the state-owned Palouse River Coulee City line.

Acquisition of both properties occurred almost simultaneously. The society heard the owner of the I Street property, Bank of New York Mellon, was placing the 12,755-square-foot piece, which contains a five-bedroom home built in 1908, up for auction.

According to information from the Spokane County SCOUT Property Information system, the bank set a sale price of $85,467 on the property assessed at $104,000. Society volunteer, and Cheney City council member John Taves, said they originally bid $12,500, and placed the winning bid of $48,500 just two minutes before closing Oct. 27. Prior to the auction, the society had received a letter from Gary Geschke informing them of a potential donation of land.

"That hadn't been concluded yet, but we knew that was possible," Taves said.

Society volunteer Sue Beeman said Geschke and society sponsor Dr. Peter Hansen grew up together in Cheney. She added that Hansen called Geschke and proposed donation of the Union Street location.

According to SCOUT, the 26,800-square-foot property at 15 Union St. is owned by Sunshine Investments, which is a partnership between Geschke, Lynda Gumnick and Robert Paetz. The property is currently home to Dow Landscaping, who is in the process of relocating to a First Street property it is leasing from the city.

"It is adequate for the depot on its own," Beeman said. "We were not sure of all that was going to be needed, so we decided to bid on I."

According to information from the Cheney Depot Society website, an original wooden depot was built in the summer of 1881 by the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1927, a group of Cheney businessmen led by mill owner and future mayor and Washington state governor Clarence Martin convinced the railroad to replace the old depot with a newer structure.

The new depot opened in 1929, and is of Southwestern-style architecture rather than the Pacific Northwest-style of other depots in the region. For years it was the portal for students entering the various incarnations of Eastern Washington University, who would emerge from the depot and walk up College Avenue to school.

"I thoroughly loved my 12 years in Cheney," Sunshine Investment's Gumnick said in an email. "I had five children while living there and am thrilled to be a part of this tremendous endeavor."

Beeman, who works as Cheney's Planning Department GIS technician and administrative assistant to the Historical Preservation Commission, said the depot was declared eligible for the national registry of historic places in 1990, but owner BNSF never followed through. Moving it to the new property might restart that process.

"It's next to the tracks, and that might help with historic registry," Beeman said.

Even with the land, much remains to be done to move the depot. In his letter to the society, Geschke said there might be clean up issues at the Union Street site, which once was the location of an oil-heat distributor.

"We're still trying to pin that down," Taves added.

And there will also be costs to move and install the depot on the property. The society is holding a fundraiser Dec. 2 at the Market Place Bakery & Eatery to continue that effort. Volunteer Richard Craven said the $45 per person dinner will feature prime rib or vegetarian option of pasta primavera.

The society will present a short video about the depot, with the main entertainment being an improvisational mystery theatre based on the classic, "Murder on the Orient Express."

"I want to have some fun so I was thinking of spoofing that a little bit," Craven said.

More Information

Cheney Depot Society Fundraiser

Date: Dec. 2

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Marketplace Bakery & Eatery, 1011 First St.

Cost: $45/person, obtained by contacting John Taves at 559-5670 or jandjtaves@gmail.com by Nov. 30.

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