Wasilla Depot Movement

 

There have been many depots, section houses, roadhouses and sheds that were dotted along the Alaska Railroad since it's beginnings in 1904 with the Alaska Northern Railway, many of which are long gone into history. Today very few depots from the Alaska Railroad exist with only four remaining, and two on the ARR mainline. 

Wasilla Depot is one of these few and  was built in 1917 not long after the town lot sale and has been in the same location since 1917, 103 years. The Wasilla Chamber of Commerce has called the old depot home since the 1990s.  On my way home from a doctor's appointment on August 26, 2020 I was shocked to see the Wasilla Depot on a house moving trailer off it's foundation. I of course thought the building was going to be moved away from any tracks permanently, but found out some information on it's new home roughly a mile south in a location that was once a cement and gravel business. This is where the depot will eventually be placed.

These are the photos I took of the Wasilla Depot and foundation in the original location on the Knik Goose Bay Road and the Parks Highway. Even though the depot will still be near the tracks in a new location, the face of Wasilla will be changed forever.

Original depots that still exist is Seward, Palmer, Wasilla, and Nenana. The original ARR depot in Seward built in 1917, is no longer next to the Alaska Railroad mainline since the earthquake of 1964 wiped out over two miles of track. Palmer Depot built in 1935 is located along the lower portion of the old Chickaloon/Sutton Branch, renamed the Palmer Branch in 1970 after the closing of the coal mines and track removal from Moose Creek to Sutton. Wasilla Depot as mentioned was built in 1917. The Nenana Depot was built in 1922 and is still in it's original location. 8/27/20

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