Old railway substation vital to region’s growth, prosperity
By Jeri Mccroskey | Sat., Dec. 18, 2004
Many people believe that for any building or structure to qualify for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the building must be of grand design, be a Davenport Hotel or a great mansion. Not so. The intent of the National Preservation Act and the National Register of Historic Places is to inspire interest in and the preservation of what people in the world of historic preservation call “built history.” These are places in time that recall events and people that influenced all that came after – for better or worse.
One-room schools, bridges and the simple, unpretentious homes of mill workers and miners can qualify, just as does the city’s rather plain, 100-year-old, Coeur d’Alene & Spokane Electric Railway substation, situated just north of the Coeur d’Alene City Park at the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Mullan Avenue. The city acquired the building from Burlington Northern Railway on April 13, 1989, for the sum of $1.
When it was built, the station became the last in a chain of substations that became necessary to boost power to the new, electric, interurban railway that ran between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. In the beginning, Washington Water Power Co. supplied the initial, direct charge from its powerhouse on the Spokane River. But, because of resistance in the overhead wire, the voltage drop was so great over the miles that electric cars could not operate east of Gibbs, a mile and a half west of Coeur d’Alene. In 1904, to remedy the situation, five power-boosting substations were constructed at intervals along the route.
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Articles of incorporation for The Coeur d’Alene & Spokane Electric Railway had been filed in 1902. The Coeur d’Alene substation is the only surviving remnant of this ambitious, transportation enterprise associated with the area’s early movers and shakers. It also had a profound influence on the region’s growth and prosperity. Also, because the founders of the rail line were important figures in the area’s early history, the remaining substation gained a listing in June 1975 on the National Register of Historic Places.
Read on at the Spokane Spokesman Review