Whitefish, MT | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | 500 Depot Street Whitefish, Montana United States | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 48°24′49″N114°20′08″W / 48.41361°N 114.33556°W /48.41361; -114.33556 | ||||||||||||
| Owned by | Stumptown Historical Society | ||||||||||||
| Line | BNSFHi Line Subdivision | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 1side platform | ||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Connections |  Greyhound Lines | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | 20 short term, 40 long term spaces | ||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Station code | Amtrak:WFH | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | June 22, 1928 | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| FY 2024 | 46,400[1] (Amtrak) | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Great Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot and Division Office | |||||||||||||
| Location | Whitefish, Montana | ||||||||||||
| Area | 2.2 acres (0.89 ha) | ||||||||||||
| Architect | Thomas D'Arcy McMahon | ||||||||||||
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival | ||||||||||||
| NRHP reference No. | 02000766 | ||||||||||||
| Added to NRHP | July 11, 2002 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Whitefish station is a stop onAmtrak'sEmpire Builder inWhitefish, Montana. In addition to theEmpire Builder, a once-dailyGreyhound Lines bus service also links the station toKalispell andMissoula. A car rental agency operates a window within the station. The station and parking lot are owned by the Stumptown Historical Society.BNSF Railway leases office space on the upper floors of the station and owns the platform and track.[2][3]
TheTudor Revival station building was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is known therein as theGreat Northern Railway Passenger and Freight Depot and Division Office or as the Whitefish Depot.[4]
Of the 12 Montana stations served by Amtrak, Whitefish is by far the busiest, boarding or detraining an average of about 170 passengers daily. Whitefish typically handles more than four times as many passengers as the next-busiest Montana station, which varies from year to year betweenEast Glacier Park,Havre, andShelby. It is the busiest station stop between the Pacific Ocean andSt. Paul Union Depot on theEmpire Builder route.[5]
As of 2012[update], theEmpire Builder stops at the station for 20 minutes. Whitefish marks the western end of the BNSF'sHi Line Subdivision and the eastern end of theKootenai River Subdivision.
TheGreat Northern Railway built the present Whitefish depot between September 10, 1927 and June 22, 1928.[6][7] Architect Thomas D'Arcy McMahon designed the structure in aTudor Revival style reminiscent of the Alpine resort hotels built by the railroad in nearbyGlacier National Park andWaterton Lakes National Park during that same era, some of which were also designed by McMahon. The upper floors of the depot housed the railway's division offices.[2][4]
By the 1980s the structure was deteriorating and theBurlington Northern Railroad (successor to the Great Northern) decided to vacate station in favor of a new building. After hearing the plan, Stumptown Historical Society approached the railroad and asked that the station be transferred for restoration. The transfer was completed in 1990 and Burlington Northern also donated money it had allocated for a new building to help fund the depot’s rehabilitation.[2]
The station was closed between June 24 and July 17, 1992 due to a mold outbreak.[8]
Stumptown started by renovating the upper stories of the depot and leased that space back to theBNSF Railway (successor to the Burlington Northern). Additional funding and the lease payments provided the money needed to renovate the first floor which is now leased to Amtrak and local vendors. The Historical Society also maintains a local history museum on the first floor adjacent to the waiting room.[2] AKenworth-Pacificbruck serving the local route fromKalispell between 1951 and 1971 is on display.[9] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.[4]
Recent additions include a baggage facility built in 1997 on the side of the station to better serve the large number of visitors during ski season.[4] In 2011, Amtrak designed and constructed a new 1,200 foot long concrete platform, which includes an electric snow-melting system and better lighting.[2]
Media related toWhitefish (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons
| Topics | |
|---|---|
| Lists by state |
|
| Lists by insular areas | |
| Lists by associated state | |
| Other areas | |
| Lists of specific structure types | |
| Related | |
