NOVEMBER 24, 2016 // 19
Continued from Pg. 11
The building was designated as
a local historic landmark in 1988
by Astoria’s Historic Landmark’s
Commission.
“We felt an obligation to pre-
serve it,” says Jeff Smith, curator
at the maritime museum. “It wasn’t
cheap, but it was well worth it.”
The building now serves as a place
to showcase trades and skills that
helped build and shape Astoria, such
as workshops and classes on kayak
and boat building, maritime knot
tying, bronze casting, leather work,
Northwest Native American basketry
and woodcarving, and more.
Before its makeover, however, the
building was the Astoria train depot.
Built in 1925 by the Spokane,
Portland and Seattle Railroad, the
train depot was designed by Thomas
D. McMahon, who is famous for
the Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier
National Park.
The building is divided into two
sections separated by a covered
breezeway: the east wing, where
freight was stored, and the west wing,
further divided into two waiting
rooms for train passengers.
In its heyday, the depot serviced
up to eight passenger and freight
trains a day from Portland. With the
construction of better roads, passen-
ger service halted in 1952. From that
point on, the depot was used exclu-
sively for freight handling until that,
too, dwindled.
In 1987, Burlington Northern
Railroad gave the building to the mar-
itime museum, which used it as a boat
shop to build the replica of a historic
sailing gillnet boat that is displayed at
the museum.
Between 2002 and 2005 the train
depot served excursion trains as part
of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
Otherwise, it had been used mainly as
a storage area.
In 2005, the museum acquired
additional storage space, freeing the
depot for other uses. However, no
major alterations had been undertaken
since the building’s construction. In
addition to enduring normal aging, an
earthquake in 2001 caused significant
structural damage that needed to be
addressed before moving forward.
The choices boiled down to repair
and restore the depot for community
use or let it continue to crumble.
In 2010, the maritime museum
chose the former.
The $2.5 million restoration
PHOTO BY ALEX PAJUNAS
Maritime Museum Executive Director Sam Johnson, right, leads a group around the Astoria train depot in June 2011 before restoration work began.
spearheaded by museum Executive
Director Sam Johnson included
seismic upgrades, restoring historic
windows and doors, adding contem-
porary canopies over doors, removing
added walls and a drop-down ceiling,
and more.
The restoration project preserved
one of Astoria’s most historic build-
ings, but the project also symbolized
more than bricks and mortar.
“It’s a real gem, and it’s become
such an asset to the community,”
Smith says. “It continues to stand the
test of time.”
‘A most sad and
interesting story’
Some buildings carry on a life of
their own, even after they are long
gone.
The Neahkahnie Tavern — once
perched proudly above the beach in
Manzanita — continues to live on
in fond memory and local mythol-
ogy.
In 1912, Samuel Reed named
his new property development
Neahkahnie. Reed commissioned
Portland architect Ellis Lawrence to
design a hotel. The building, called
the Neahkahnie Travern, was erect-
ed at the western end of Nehalem
Road close to the beach with views
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A hotel and restaurant situated practically on the Manzanita beach, the
Neahkahnie Tavern was occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard during the 1940s
and burned down in 1956.
of the mountain.
“The Reed family dream was
to run a resort hotel on the beach,”
says Tom Mock, President of Ne-
halem Valley Historical Society.
This magnificent setting
prompted Reed to write to potential
investors “Nothing can prevent
Neahkahnie from becoming the
finest beach resort in Oregon.”
Advertising for the hotel prom-
ised “plenty of ranch food will load
the tables, garden produce raised on
the place, eggs, butter and milk of
the very best, and pure water from
the mountain streams. The ranch is
carefully stocked with the choicest
breeds of cattle, sheep and hogs.
Hundreds of chickens, housed in
clean sheds, produce the fresh eggs
for breakfasts.”
Another brochure extolled such
virtues as “a comfortable lobby with
a cheerful fireplace from which
opens the commodious dining room
and attractive sun parlor.”
In all, there were three floors
with a restaurant, eight baths and
19 guest rooms. The family had its
own quarters above the kitchen.
The Neahkahnie Tavern flour-
ished during the 1920s, languished
during the Great Depression of the
1930s, and was commandeered by
the U.S. Coast Guard in the early
1940s.
After Samuel Reed died, his
widow sold it. The building passed
through several owners until it
burned under somewhat question-
able circumstances in 1956.
“There was an attempt to restore
it, and there were economic difficul-
ties,” Mock says. “When it burned,
there was every reason to believe it
was intentional.”
He adds that had the building not
burned, it would perhaps remain as
one of the most desired destinations
on the West Coast.
Now, all that remains — buried
between overgrowth and dunes —
is a glimpse of the foundation and
chimney.
“It makes for a most sad and
interesting story,” Mock says.