Stumptown Historical Society and Whitefish Museum - Whitefish, MT
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T0SHEA
N 48° 24.809 W 114° 20.136
11U E 697150 N 5365688
Somewhat of a rarity, the Whitefish Great Northern Depot was designed by railroad architect Thomas McMahon in the Tudor style, which was already falling out of favour in 1928, the year of its completion. Nonetheless, it's a great looking station.
Waymark Code: WMMW5F
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2014
Views: 1
Though the museum is a great attraction, the depot is an attraction in its own right, being very attractive and one of the few Tudor style railway depots one will come across any more, not to mention a National Historic Place.
Though the society hasn't a sign for the historical society posted, their plaque on the depot's history, reprinted below, indicates their ownership and management of the building.
The Stumptown Historical Society has created the Historical Walking Tour of Whitefish, Montana and has placed a plaque at each stop on the tour describing the history of that particular stop.
The museum holds collections of photographs and artefacts from many aspects of Whitefish's history, from day to day living to recreation to transportation and railroad history. To the west of the museum there is a diesel-electric locomotive on display, while on the east side is "The Bruck", a one of a kind Kenworth truck converted to a bus which was used in the area from 1951 to 1972 for passenger service.
The Great Northern Railroad began construction on this depot in 1927 and it served them until The Great Northern became the Burlington Northern on March 2, 1970, with the merger of four railroads, the Great Northern Railway, Northern Pacific Railway, Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
Purchased from the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1990 by the Stumptown (Whitefish) Historical Society, the building has been restored over the course of three years and is home to the Historical Society and the Whitefish Museum. There is also an Amtrak waiting room in the building and offices, which are rented out by the society.
On the track (north) side of the depot, beside the waiting room entrance, is a historical marker placed by the Stumptown Historical Society and the Whitefish Community Foundation, which relates a bit of the depot's history. On the opposite (south) side of the depot, beside the museum entrance, can be seen the plaque proclaiming the building a National Historic Place.
WHITEFISH DEPOT
Built by the Great Northern Railway in 1927, the Whitefish Depot is not only a local landmark but is recognized fondly by hundreds of thousands of people who have passed through Whitefish by train over the years. The building's chalet-style architecture and the gardens that surround it create a distinctive Whitefish "trademark."
The railroad's decision to construct a 36-by-150-foot building, to replace a much smaller depot at the north end of Central Avenue, occasioned a banner headline in the Whitefish Pilot in August, 1927. The three-story structure — one story for a depot and two for offices — would cost about $60,000. Butler Construction Co. of Seattle won the contract.
In the late 1980s, Whitefish almost lost its famous depot when the railroad, by then the Burlington Northern, decided to scrap it. But the Stumptown Historical Society, a group formed by local folks to preserve the town's history, refused to let it go. The Society bought the building for $1 and then raised $800,000 to renovate it, much of the work done by Whitefish volunteers. The Society uses rental fees from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Amtrak and a few office tenants to maintain the depot. In 2002, the Society had the building repainted in historically correct colors, a project that cost three-fourths as much as the entire 1927 construction cost.
More than 50,000 people pass through the depot each year.
Sponsored by the
Stumptown Historical Society and the Whitefish Community Foundation.
From the plaque at the building