1998: King Street Station

Built in 1906 to serve passengers traveling to and from Seattle on the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads, King Street Station has been an area landmark for over ninety years. Once the transportation hub of the region, the building stands today as a great cultural landmark for the state of Washington.  More than 500,000 people per year currently use the station, primarily to access Amtrak rail service.

In the late 1800's, the tidal flats of Seattle were rapidly developed with rail lines serving nearby piers and the growing city to the north. In 1901, the Great Northern Railroad located a passenger train depot on the south side of Jackson Street. Opened to the public as "Union Station" in 1906, it was renamed "King Street Station" after completion of the Union Pacific Railroad Sta­tion across Fourth Avenue in 1911.

Part of the Jackson Street regrade that leveled the land for the future International District, King Street Station was designed by Charles A. Reed and Allen H. Stern of St. Paul, Minnesota, who helped to design New York's Grand Central Station. In a nod to Italian architecture, the design­ers topped the station with a bell tower that is a faithful rendition of the campanile of Venice's Piazza San Marco.

As originally constructed, the station's great waiting room was surrounded by marble walls with an inset glass mosaic band. Above the marble wainscoting, plaster was molded into intricate details. From the ornate plaster ceiling hung elegant brass chandeliers with glass globes. Huge oak benches and leather arm chairs provided a luxurious space, with daylight streaming through the awnings around the station which were covered with translucent glass.

In 1971 passenger service ended at neighboring Union Station, and Amtrak began its service at King Street Station in May of 1971. The station became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Although altered over time, most of the original building survives. Plans are now underway to renovate, upgrade and develop King Street Station as an intermodal transportation center. Several forms of transportation scattered in the general vicinity of the station will be integrated at the station, without altering its historical facade.

-Dashiel Wham, Writer (1998)