Sandpoint Depot is a picture of dignity, beauty

The old depot in Sandpoint has been sitting by the tracks doing the same job for 92 years. One can see some changes have transpired over the years but she still presents a picture of dignity and beauty. She came into being in 1916 and was hailed as an important addition to the growing village of Sandpoint. Unlike her predecessor, who had been surrounded by homes and businesses, she stood pretty much alone because the people had moved to the present town site across Sand Creek.

Her "birth" made front page news in the Pend `Oreille Review of November 10, 1916 when it announced, "New Depot Open-To be celebrated." The paper gave a description of how she looked in her youth: "The new depot is constructed of a fine grade of building brick capped with a green tile roof…." "There is one large waiting room, a rest room for the ladies and a smoking compartment for the gentlemen. Below stairs is the heating plant and the septic tank … Cluster lights have been placed about the outside of the depot while eight posts carrying large candle-power lights have been spaced along the brick platform. The total costs of the construction is about $25,000."

If the old depot could talk, she would have many fascinating stories to tell, both happy and sad. She could tell of the happy couples arriving after a marriage or others waiting for the "all aboard" to take them to far places on their honeymoon. She would tell of young boys leaving home to fight in little known places for lesser known reasons. She could relate countless stories about GIs, of all the wars, rolling through town on one of the seemingly endless troop trains. She would tell of the time that the citizens of Sandpoint brought food to the depot to feed wounded World War I soldiers that were passing through on their way to a hospital.

Before her death, Joy Ann O'Donnell recalled the importance of the old depot to yesterday's kids of Sandpoint. "Every Sunday we always took a drive and ended up at the depot. Someone would ask `is she in the block yet'?" The signal lights would turn red and presently the steam from the engine could be seen as the locomotive rushed past the station. "We would wave and wave to the soldiers as the train went through, and they would wave back."

The old depot is not as busy today but she has done her job well. If you want to see where Sandpoint got its start then give her a visit.