The Great Northern Railway Depot, more than any other building, represents the development of Newport’s prosperity and national reach. The transcontinental Great Northern Railway elevated the sleepy river town into a major transportation hub. On May 28, 1892, steam whistles marked the arrival of the first passenger train in Newport and the line also provided an essential industrial link to outside markets.

The first Newport depot was nothing more than a converted box car, which burned after just a couple years of service. Several other buildings housed the depot in short succession before the Great Northern dedicated its new depot in December 1910. According to a Newport Miner article, the depot marked “another step in the development of the town and its progress toward the commanding position to which it is entitled by virtue of its location and the wealth of tributary resources.” The paper reported that the building featured a “Minnesota repressed red brick” and “Minnesota sandstone” façade with a “Bangor slate” roof. Its steam-heated interior was illuminated by 125 electric lights including four brass chandeliers suspended from 14-foot-high cove ceilings. Its walls were accented by “Tiffany enameled white brick” wainscoting and “finely polished birch” finishes. The depot equaled the buildings the railroad built in communities twice Newport’s size, which reportedly reflected its confidence in the town’s prospects.

The Great Northern Railway Depot proved to be a busy place with four passenger trains traveling to and from Spokane daily. For the next sixty years it served Great Northern trains before passenger service ended in 1971. The Plum Creek Timber Company acquired the depot building in the mid-1980s and maintained offices there for about 10 years. It now houses a Stimson Lumber Company regional office.

Credits and Sources:

Bamonte, Tony, and Susan Schaeffer Bamonte. History of Pend Oreille County. Spokane:

Tornado Publications, 1996.

Becker, Duane. “The Great Northern Railway in Pend Oreille County, 1890 to 1920.” Big

Smoke, 2003.

Becker, Duane. “The Towns Along the Great Northern Railway: 1890 to 1920.” Big Smoke,

2004.

“New Depot Formally Opened,” The Newport Miner vol. X, no. 30, December 8, 1910.

Pend Oreille County Historical Society. Resource Files—Railroads.

Photographs courtesy of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society.