The Lewis County Historical Society and Museum is located in Chehalis, Washington. The museum is situated in the city's Burlington Northern Depot, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1974. The repository is located within the Chehalis Downtown Historic District and borders the Pennsylvania Avenue-West Side Historic District, both NRHP-listed locations.
The train station was constructed by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1912 and opened with a dedication ceremony in January 1913. The depot became most commonly known as the Burlington Northern Depot and renamed as the Lewis County Historical Museum in 1975.
In February 1973, Burlington Northern closed the depot and ordered the historic Chehalis station to be demolished. Ongoing efforts and protests saved the structure, allowing the site to be used a local museum. The depot was leased to Lewis County in late-1975 for $1 per year. The building was renovated by the Lewis County Historical Society and several volunteers, officially opening as a county historical museum in September 1979.
The museum is under the oversight of the Lewis County Historical Society, which incorporated in 1965. The Lewis County Historical Museum has remained in operation since the 1970s despite funding difficulties and an embezzlement of the society's endowment fund in the late 2000s.
The space hosts permanent displays, most notably exhibits on pioneer life and indigenous culture and people, as well as special presentations tied to the county's past. Over 50,000 artifacts, which include audio recordings, interactive items, newspapers, photographs, and physical objects of historical importance, are stored within the museum or under its management. The original passenger waiting room houses the main exhibit space and the museum is known for a large-scale, working model train display of Lewis County. The site is a standard location for celebrations, events, and festivals pertaining to Chehalis and Lewis County.
Background
A Northern Pacific Railway (NPR) railroad line through Chehalis, then known as Saundersville, was constructed in 1872 and 1873. A competition between an NPR station with Newaukum began. Chehalis residents began requesting a train station in 1872 by petition. John W. Sprague, an NPR official, denied the request, but he sent the petition to headquarters and allowed the returning train to drop off three railroad representatives in Chehalis rather than in Newaukum. A train conductor was offered money in exchange for a freight delivery directly to Chehalis and businessmen and residents in the city began flagging down trains which were required to stop after being flagged. The actions led to a regular train stop in Saundersville in 1874.
A wooden "regulation depot" was built by Northern Pacific in 1890. The depot was partially rebuilt in 1897. By the 1900s, the station had issues with injury concerns and dilapidation and was considered a "menace" a "dump", and "inadequate" and "too small" for the city. Improvement efforts throughout the decade were attempted.
The construction of the Northern Pacific Depot was publicly announced on April 4, 1912. The station was completed in the late summer of 1912 and an official dedication ceremony was held on January 23, 1913.
Closure and planned demolition
In March 1970, a large merger of several railroad companies led to the creation of Burlington Northern (BNR). The new company, due to "economic reasons", began closing depots and stations in smaller communities. Passengers were permanently diverted in early 1972 from Chehalis to Centralia and the Chehalis station had begun to merge their operations and employees with Centralia beginning in January 1973. The Chehalis Depot was officially closed on February 15, 1973, with plans for demolition under orders from Burlington Northern.
Interest in acquiring the depot was undertaken by the Chehalis Parking Improvement Club which, at the time, leased spaces in two parking lots adjacent to the station. Demolition attempts by Burlington Northern either continued or were postponed over during the mid-1970s.
Demolition cancelled A petition to save the station was undertaken by a city-wide canvass led by the Committee of Concerned Citizens for the Preservation of the Depot. The appeal was signed by over 1,000 people. The efforts were considered an important step that helped the station be added to both the Washington State Heritage Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Demolition was postponed again into the summer of 1975 as the site was beginning to be finalized for its use by the city and the Lewis County Historical Society. Plans were continually waylaid under various concerns, including financial solvency, Burlington Northern's liability, and the county's requirement that the building was to be of use only as a museum.
Burlington Northern officially announced on July 11, 1975, that the historic station would not be demolished. An interim agreement was reached that Lewis County could purchase the depot, assuming the county fulfilled promises to undertake safety and improvement concerns the railroad company had stated over the previous years. The deal was officially signed in September 29, the depot allowed to be leased to the county. Burlington Northern specified requirements that it be used only as a museum and that the county must erect a fence between the railroad tracks and the platform. The original lease, signed on November 3, 1975, and spanning for 20 years, could not be cancelled and required a $1 annual payment; afterwards, the lease could be renewed annually in perpetuity and cancelled only if the county no longer wanted the building under their oversight.
Lewis County Historical Society and Museum
Early history The first proposal for a county museum was approved and adopted by the Lewis County commissioner board in September 1942. A collection of artifacts and historical documents were to be located at the Lewis County Savings and Loan building in Chehalis, overseen by an association of the same name. While the county would not own the museum at first, it declared that once the repository was proven to be successful and of value, the county was to take ownership. By 1945, plans changed as a museum and historical society steering committee proposed a county tax on pinball and slot machines. The funds were to be used to construct a county historical building at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.
Another recommendations for a county historical society began in May 1955 and the Lewis County Historical Society (LCHS) was officially formed in October 1964; directors and officers of the group were elected in December. The first charter meeting, open to the public, was held on January 21, 1965 with a membership enrollment of 145. The first two projects undertaken by the LCHS were an effort to place markers at sites of early schools in Lewis County no longer in existence, and a plan to rededicate the Fort Borst blockhouse. By April, membership more than tripled to 396 people and 22 committees were formed to gather and study information on Lewis County history.
The Lewis County Historical Society and Museum incorporated in 1965 and began searching for a museum location by September 1966 despite waning enthusiasm, decreased membership, and difficulty in organizing both the society and the gathered historical information. At the time of the depot's proposed demolition, the LCHS was located in a residence known as the Cory House on Washington Avenue in the city's Hillside Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site.
The museum began after Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Cory donated their mid-1920s home to the society in October 1966; the offer to the society was dependent on the structure's use as a county museum. The Cory's had been residents of Chehalis since 1903. Arthur was a prominent banker and state representative, also undertaking numerous civil service roles within the community. After remodeling of the home, the Lewis County Historical Museum opened on November 2, 1968. Visitors on opening day were estimated at 500 people and the museum was announced to be open every Thursday afternoon or by appointment.
By the end of the first year of operations, the Cory House museum recorded 4,000 visitors and approximately 500 citizens donated at least one item to the society. The basement featured displays on agriculture and timber, as well as an "old-timey" kitchen. The main floor featured exhibits of various historical collectables along with fashion and home interior styles seen over the years. The area also included two post office counters from discontinued post offices in Grand Mound and the former community of Eagleton near Bunker. The top floor contained bedroom displays of an earlier era, and a beginning form of the society's research library.
The society, looking to expand due to the cramped nature and poor location of the Cory House, as well as its lack of accessibility for disabled and senior citizen visitors, immediately began to research the historical importance of the depot. Despite railroad officials lacking confidence that a museum could work, as well as deeming the depot to unsafe to be a museum due to its immediate proximity to the tracks, the LCHS pushed forward, reaching out and involving Burlington Northern, the Chehalis community, and local businesses.
Restoration
The Chehalis Depot had been vacant since 1973 and atrophy of the structure was substantial. The city council approved a renovation plan by LCHS member and University of Washington student, Cynthia Elise Botch, in July 1975, leading to almost $115,000 in grants and funding from various parties. Participating agencies and organizations included the Comprehensive Employee Training Act (CETA), the Economic Development Administration (EDA), and the LCHS which used $13,000 of its own funds that were marked for upgrades to the station's electrical and plumbing systems. A Lewis County Public Works director of the county's building department, Dennis Sabin, volunteered to remodel parts of the depot at no taxpayer expense.
As the initial restoration did not include renovating the interior, a pledge drive began in July 1977 to raise $50,000 for such needs as a new heating system and display cases. Students at Green Hill School manufactured and erected a wrought iron fence. With less than two weeks left to raise the money, the drive had raised only $10,000; the low amount was considered to be due to the confusion over the various methods of funding being sought. With a late push, but ultimately falling short, the goal was finally achieved after interest on the deposited funds were added.
Into 1977, the efforts were overseen by Botch and included additional work such as the system installations for security and temperature control; by June, work to reconfigure the interior footprint to better suit a museum layout was still under process. Landscaping, replacing walkways, "rejuvenating" the brick façade and the construction of displays were additional parts of the overall remodel. The roof was replaced by the same month, the labor undertaken by the CETA who also contributed to several other efforts within the facility. In combination with the slow or delayed releases of funds that prevented the completion of several exterior needs, including repairs to the platform and soffits, the opening of the museum was ultimately pushed past several promised dates, such as a planned United States Bicentennial celebration in 1976. A retaining wall on Front Street, which was higher in elevation than the depot, was built of sheet metal and planted with ivy beginning in October 1977.