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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Packet 2015-10-14 HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION - AGENDA REGULAR MEETING 5:15 P.M. October 14, 2015 I. 5:15—CALL TO ORDER: ** NOTE: SPECIAL LOCATION - 4102 Stearman Ave., Pasco, WA 99301 ** II. 5:15—ROLL CALL: Declaration of Quorum III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: September 9, 2015 IV. 5:15—OLD BUSINESS: A. None V. PUBLIC HEARINGS: A. None VI. WORKSHOP: A. Discuss converting "Historic Pasco' Presentation into discrete 10-15 minute segments a) Discuss narration for Railroad segment b) Final review of Ainsworth narration, photo selection c) Suggest music/sound effects for background d) Suggest narrators B. Tour of the NAS Pasco air traffic control tower by Commissioner Bergstrom II. 5:55—OTHER BUSINESS: A. None III. 6:00—ADJOURNMENT HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION - Minutes REGULAR MEETING 5:15 P.M. September 9, 2015 I. 5:15—CALL TO ORDER: II. 5:15—ROLL CALL: Present: Present: Marilynn Baker, Malin Bergstrom, Tom Brandon, Devi Tate, Dan Stafford. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: August 12, 2015 - Approved IV. 5:15—OLD BUSINESS: A. None V. PUBLIC HEARINGS: A. None VI. WORKSHOP: A. Commissioners discussed the narration for the Railroad segment and viewed, commented on the preliminary photo selection for the Ainsworth segment of the Historic Pasco film series. II. 5:55—OTHER BUSINESS: A. Next Meeting to be held at Bergstrom Aircraft located at 4102 Stearman Ave., Pasco, WA 99301 on October 14, 2015, with a tour of the NAS Pasco air traffic control tower scheduled for after the meeting. III. 7:10—ADJOURNMENT A Railroad History of Pasco Pasco's story begins in Ainsworth, Washington Territory, the railroad construction town that came to life on the North shore of the Snake River in 1879. The Northern Pacific Railroad began construction of a bridge across the Snake River in 1879 and finished in 1884. Upon completion of the bridge Ainsworth's population started to dwindle as workers moved on to the next project. A new county called Franklin had been created in 1883 by carving off a large chunk of Whitman County, with Ainsworth becoming the county seat. The railroad's next big project was the building of a bridge across the Columbia River several miles upstream from the mouth of the Snake River. To support the new bridge-building effort, Pasco was built, and all the railroad's construction equipment as well as the transfer steamer Frederick K. Billings was moved to the new railroad town site. Pasco was officially designated as a Northern Pacific Railroad station in Nov 1884. As business at Ainsworth slowly wound down, the old county courthouse at Ainsworth was moved overland to Pasco which became the new county seat in 1887. Construction on the Columbia River Bridge from Pasco to Kennewick lasted from July 1884 to September 1888 but was closed through the winter of 1888 as ice had damaged some of the wooden support structure. Pasco's rail facilities started with a temporary single-stall roundhouse in 1884 which was replaced by a permanent 4-stall roundhouse in 1888 and again in 1889 with a 6-stall version. In 1889 the 10-stall roundhouse at Ainsworth was torn down and the rail inclines for the transfer steamers were removed at Ainsworth and Kennewick. In 1906 Pasco became a Division Point for both the Northern Pacific and the Spokane, Portland &Seattle Railways. Pasco's population had grown to almost 1,200 persons, and a huge building boom commenced as a result of the Division Point news. However the construction was almost entirely commercial, resulting in an acute housing shortage; people were sleeping in tents and on the ground, and fights and bribery broke out as people tried to secure lodging. One newspaper likened Pasco's housing situation to that of"a wild mining camp." Supposedly 5 "tenements" were built by the railroad but there is confusion about when and where they were located. Finally in late summer 1906 contractor C.W. Herrick started work on the original 16 railroad houses on what is now "A" Street. These consisted of 10- 11/2 story houses and 6 -13/4 story houses By the end of Sept 1906 the first four houses were completed and were painted "Indian Red", the color of boxcars with "Forest Green" trim. By mid -August, 12 more houses were under construction and by years end a total of 28 houses had been constructed at a cost of$47,000 dollars. In spring 1908 carpenters completed the porches and trim on the last 16 houses. The 6 larger houses on the West end away from the tracks had indoor plumbing and were assigned to railroad employees in upper management. In 1941 a local developer named Warden Fann purchased all the houses from the railroad and sold them to private parties. Meanwhile contractor C.W. Herrick working under Northwestern Improvement Company (a subdivision of the Northern Pacific Railroad) started work on the new Division Headquarters complex consisting of a two story office building and a new Depot and platform which surrounded both buildings, costing a total of $8,000. This was Pasco's second depot and was located South and East of the 4th and "A" street intersection. By late summer 1908 the Northern Pacific Railroad Lunch Building, also known as the Northern Pacific Club, and nicknamed "The Beanery," was completed. A large two story building, it had a restaurant, recreational area, and sleeping rooms for single railroad employees upstairs. It was later sold to the American Legion and subsequently burned down not long after. Another railroad building boom ensued in the years 1910-1912 when the railroad built a brick 38-stall roundhouse as part of as a complex of yard, office, and maintenance buildings and a complete private power plant for a total investment of$300,000. Pasco's third Depot was constructed in 1937,very close to the location of Pasco's little-known first depot on Tacoma Avenue just north of Lewis Street. It was subsequently demolished in 20OX A large part of the Northern Pacific's construction projects were its ice houses which were used for storage and transfer of fruit and vegetables in refrigerated railcars. Pasco's first ice house was built by the Northern Pacific Railroad in the early 1890's and was big enough that it hid Pasco's shabby business district from travelers arriving at the depot. A larger new ice house was built in 1898 adjacent to the old ice house with a capacity of 1640 tons. By 1900 workers were loading 35 tons of ice a night to refrigerate fruit in the box cars. At that time men and boys were paid $1.50 a day for a 10-hour shift and worked all summer long loading ice into the boxcars. In 1911 another new ice house was built next to the old one but on the opposite side of the tracks. This ice house was 900 feet long and at the time was the largest ice house between St. Paul Minnesota and the Pacific coast. By 1912's capacity was 30,000 tons of ice. In August 1912 fire destroyed both ice houses and the twenty loaded railcars that were parked between the two buildings. In early 1913 construction was started on a huge new fireproof concrete ice house 480 feet long and 94 feet wide with a capacity of 40,000 tons of ice.Then in the fall of 1924 The Addison Miller Company took over the operation of the ice house after signing a long term lease with the Northern Pacific Railroad as they were already operating the ice houses in Hilliard,Yardley and Laurel, Montana. The original 38-stall roundhouse built in 1910-1912 was reduced to 18 stalls in 1963 with advent of diesel locomotives which didn't require as much maintenance and upkeep as the steam locomotives. The railroad's hump yard complex north of Pasco was completed in 1955—a state of the art electronically controlled freight car complex which allows trains to be made up with a minimum of the old-fashioned switching process.