Boise Union Pacific Depot
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The Boise Depot is a former
train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...
in the
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, located in
Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...
,
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
. Opened in 1925, it is listed on the
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(NRHP). At an
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of above
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on the rim of the first bench, the depot overlooks Capitol Boulevard and the
Idaho State Capitol The Idaho State Capitol in Boise is the home of the government of the U.S. state of Idaho. Although Lewiston briefly served as Idaho's capital city from the formation of the old federal Idaho Territory in 1863, the territorial legislat ...
, to the northeast.


History

The depot was built in 1925 by the
Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
, and service by its ''Portland Rose'' began with service between
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,
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, and
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...
,
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. Thousands attended its debut with mainline service in mid-April, including Union Pacific president Carl Gray, granted a key to the city by
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
Eugene Sherman. The UP's '' City of Portland'' also Chicago to Portland, for several decades made stops in Boise. Union Pacific discontinued the ''Portland Rose'' and the ''City of Portland'' (along with all its passenger rail service) on May 1, 1971, the day
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
began operating. Six years later, Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) resumed passenger service to the station in 1977 with the '' Pioneer'', Initially run between
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,
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, and
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,
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, it was later extended further east and provided daily service from Chicago to Seattle. The next eastbound stop on the ''Pioneer'' was originally in Mountain Home, but that station was dropped in 1981, so the next eastbound stop was
Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...
; the next westbound stop was Nampa. Forty-nine years after its debut, the Boise Depot was listed on the NRHP on August 7, 1974, as the Union Pacific Mainline Depot. The last passenger train to use the depot was the ''Pioneer'', which ended service in 1997. In 1990, Boise-based
Morrison–Knudsen Morrison–Knudsen (MK) was an American civil engineering and construction company, with headquarters in Boise, Idaho. MK designed and constructed major infrastructure throughout the world and was one of the consortium of firms that built Hoover ...
Corporation (MK) purchased the depot and renovated it to pristine condition. The City of Boise took it over in 1996 and opened it for tours and special events; it is open to the public Sundays and Mondays from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ada County, Idaho __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ada County, Idaho. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ada County, Idaho, Ada Cou ...


References


External links


Info on Historic Locomotive on site

City of Boise's Depot webpage
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Boise, Idaho Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho Railway stations in the United States opened in 1925 Former Amtrak stations in Idaho Former Union Pacific Railroad stations Tourist attractions in Boise, Idaho Clock towers in Idaho National Register of Historic Places in Boise, Idaho Carrère and Hastings buildings Repurposed railway stations in the United States Railway stations in the United States closed in 1997