Olympia Washington

Centennial Station

This station poses the eternal question that bedevils rail fans and non rail fans alike: namely, when is something new, really something old? But before you get an answer, you’ve got to understand the history behind the riddle.

Olympia Washington (actually the location is east of Olympia) had a Northern Pacific Railroad train station for many years. However, in the late 1960’s, given the passenger traffic declines, and the desire of the then-failing railroads to exit the unprofitable passenger business, the station was razed after the last passenger train had departed.

Even after the arrival of Amtrak, rail passengers going through Olympia Washington found a wooden bus shelter in a remote area, with bad parking and no other connection to any form of public transportation. Finally one of the County Commissioners, George Barner, realizing that a train station is, first and foremost, a community’s way of saying “hello” to the traveling public began the process of raising the money for Olympia to build a new station.

After several years of fund-raising efforts, the community managed to gather together a combination of $100,000.00 (USD) in cash, and an estimated $300,000.00 (USD) to erect the structure. These efforts allowed the work on the new passenger station for Olympia, and the adjacent community of Lacey, to begin. The new station, dubbed “Centennial Station” was opened in 1993.

Since it was not an “Amtrak Station” it was not staffed by Amtrak. Instead a collection of volunteers has manned the station during all operating hours since the station was opened.

Now, we get to the old part. On the inside the Station is very “new.” It has several eco-friendly energy-conservation features. It also has a very modern electronic train status board so that awaiting passengers have some access to train arrival and departure information. However, for the outside the architect, Harold E. Dalke (who had donated his services), decided to keep the “look” old. He did this, in part, by incorporating into his design a collection of 150 year old corbels made of Cyprus which had been saved from houses on Cherokee Street in New Orleans LA. While the pieces, as most Victorian-type “Gingerbread,” are strictly decorative and structurally add nothing to the building, esthetically, they add a lot. They help to remind us that while this is a new building, it has a very old, traditional, function: Welcoming the weary traveler into your midst.

Today much of the thinking about building train stations/ airports/ bus terminals (or that new conglomerate the “Intermodal Center”) appears to hold that most travelers are rushing through the station on their way to their “real” destination. Thus they are looking for nothing more than entertainment, if even that, while they await their next mode of transport. However, Centennial Station reminds us that we should also take the time, as a community, to welcome the stranger within our midst.

I have visited this station on several occasions. While I found the “electronic boards” to not always be correct, at least the people inside the station were friendly, and I was made to feel welcome. That says a lot about what a train station, or any kind of mass transportation terminal, should be.