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King Street Station (Seattle)
Encyclopedia
King Street Station is a train station
in Seattle, Washington
. Located between South King and South Jackson streets and Second and Fourth Avenue South in the Pioneer Square
neighborhood of Seattle, the station is just south of downtown. Built from 1904 to 1906, It served the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway
from its grand opening on May 10, 1906, until the creation of Amtrak
in 1971. The station was designed by the St. Paul, Minnesota architectural firm of Charles A. Reed and Allen H. Stem, who were later associate designers for the New York Central Railroad
's Grand Central Terminal
in New York City
. King Street Station was Seattle's primary train terminal until the construction of the adjacent Oregon & Washington Depot, later named Union Station
, in 1911. King Street Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places
and the Washington Heritage Register in 1973.
Since the early 1990s the station has been in various states of repair to undo remodels done during the middle of the Twentieth Century, including the restoration of the elegant main waiting room. King Street Station was purchased by the City of Seattle in 2008 for $10 and with enough funds now in place the restoration is planned to finally be complete by 2012.
The station is served by Amtrak Cascades
, Empire Builder
, and Coast Starlight
trains, and by Sound Transit
's Sounder
commuter train
s. Of the eighteen Washington stations served by Amtrak, King Street Station was the busiest in Fiscal Year 2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 1,850 passengers daily. For the first nine months of 2006, Sounder service boarded almost 1.2 million passengers at King Street Station.
, the station replaced an antiquated station on Railroad Avenue, today's Alaskan Way
. Designed by the firm of Reed and Stem
of St. Paul, Minnesota, who acted as associate architects for the design of Grand Central Terminal
in New York City
, the station was part of a larger project that moved the mainline away from the waterfront and into a 5,245 foot (1,590 m) tunnel under downtown. The depot's 242 feet (73.8 m) tower was modeled after Campanile di San Marco in Venice
, Italy
, making it the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction. This tower contained four huge mechanical clock faces built by E. Howard & Co.
of Boston, Massachusetts, offering the time to each of the four cardinal directions. At the time of installation it was said to be the second largest timepiece on the Pacific Coast, second only to the Ferry Building
in San Francisco, California
. Later, this tower also served as a microwave tower for the Burlington Northern Railroad
, the successor of both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, which occupied the second and third floors of the station, now deserted.
Over the years, remodeling has concealed the station's original interior. The final blow occurred in 1965 when the ornate coffered ceiling of the main waiting room, and a balcony
and second level arcade
were hidden by a lower dropped ceiling
10 feet (3 m) below the original. Under the direction of Northern Pacific Architect A.C. Cayou, the waiting room
was walled off and marble was removed from columns as well as ornamental plaster being sheared from the walls as high as the new ceiling. A grand staircase linking South Jackson Street with the west entrance was reduced to half its original size, and an addition housing escalators was constructed on the west elevation of the building that was not in keeping with the building's architecture. The only remaining feature left visible in the main waiting area was the terrazzo tile floor and the clock on the west wall above the restrooms.
From a practical standpoint, the station is close to downtown. However, unlike cities such as Boston, it is not near the intercity bus terminal, although the station is under a block from the International District of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. What appears to be an upper entrance is not used. The main entrance on the first floor is a small parking lot, rather than a loop.
Plans are underway to restore the entire building to its former prominence. Cosmetic renovations began in 2003. As part of these renovations the Compass Room and restrooms were refurbished, and the exterior awnings were replaced. New mahogany entry doors and wood framed windows were installed in the waiting room and Compass Room. New brass door hardware and reproduction period light fixtures and plaster decorative work were included to reproduce the former character of the station's interior.
In November, 2006, the Office of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
announced a preliminary agreement between the City of Seattle and BNSF Railway
to purchase the station for $1. The Seattle City Council
formalized the agreement by passing legislation in December, 2006. The deal, revised to $10, was signed March 5, 2008. The purchase by the city freed up US$19 million of state and federal funds that can be used for further restoration of the station. The city has earmarked a further US$10 million for the restoration as part of a recently passed local transportation levy.
In 2008, the clocks in the clock tower were repaired, and the old microwave antennas were removed. Repair work to the exterior continues as of June 2010.
Phase two of the project began in May, 2010, when demolition work commenced on the second and third floors, previously used by Burlington Northern for division offices. Work is also underway on the baggage area, originally used as a restaurant. During June, 2010, work also began on demolition of a 1950s addition to the building that housed the escalators and of the Jackson Street Plaza. Demolition work was completed by September, 2010. A surprise development during this phase was the removal of the suspended ceiling in early July. Crews worked over several nights while the station was mostly empty removing the over 1,600 acoustic tiles and their framing. The current light fixtures and remaining suspended wires were to remain until enough funding becomes available to complete restoration. Currently the project focuses on the rebuilding of the Jackson Plaza. Thirty-six geothermic wells reaching 300 ft (91.4 m) into the ground were drilled to eventually heat and cool the station. A new concrete floor has been poured including seismic wall supports and space for an elevator and future ticketing and baggage areas.
In October, 2010, the King Street Station project was awarded $18.2 million from $2.4 billion in high-speed intercity passenger rail service funding announced by the U.S. Transportation Department
. This funding is needed by the project in order to complete seismic regrades and the restoration of the interior. The entire project is now expected to be completed by late 2011 to early 2012.
King Street Station is a red brick masonry and steel frame
building with terra cotta
and cast stone ornamentation
, through relatively subdued in comparison to the clock tower. The entire first floor exterior is brick-clad with granite. The building is L-shaped with the clock tower
marking the main entry on the west facade
. The clock tower and main entry terminate the axis of King Street in Pioneer Square. The architectural style is sometimes denoted as "Railroad Italinate" with definite Italian inspirations in the clock tower while the base shows influences of Beaux Arts.
Inside the main entry, at the base of the clock tower, is the entry hall, known as the Compass Room. The name references the navigational star compass rose
design laid out in hand-cut marble tiles on the floor at its center. The Compass Room has marble wainscotting, and is lighted by a multi-globe chandelier suspended above the compass rose from an elaborate plaster rosette
. Triple-globe wall sconces around the perimeter illuminate a band of inlaid green iridescent glass tile on the walls. Circular clerestory
windows are trimmed in plaster relief decoration. This motif was originally repeated throughout most of the station's waiting room. While there is no known influence for the design of the interior, it resembles the ceiling of the famous Salone dei Cinquecento at the Palazzo Vecchio
in Florence, Italy featuring a similar coffered grid with dentils and repeating circles.
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Located between South King and South Jackson streets and Second and Fourth Avenue South in the Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington
Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...
neighborhood of Seattle, the station is just south of downtown. Built from 1904 to 1906, It served the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway
Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...
from its grand opening on May 10, 1906, until the creation of Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
in 1971. The station was designed by the St. Paul, Minnesota architectural firm of Charles A. Reed and Allen H. Stem, who were later associate designers for the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
's Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. King Street Station was Seattle's primary train terminal until the construction of the adjacent Oregon & Washington Depot, later named Union Station
Union Station (Seattle)
Union Station is a former train station in Seattle, Washington, USA, constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. Located at the corner of S. Jackson...
, in 1911. King Street Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and the Washington Heritage Register in 1973.
Since the early 1990s the station has been in various states of repair to undo remodels done during the middle of the Twentieth Century, including the restoration of the elegant main waiting room. King Street Station was purchased by the City of Seattle in 2008 for $10 and with enough funds now in place the restoration is planned to finally be complete by 2012.
The station is served by Amtrak Cascades
Amtrak Cascades
The Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada...
, Empire Builder
Empire Builder
The Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route and busiest daily train, carrying more than 500,000 travelers annually since 2007. Overall, it is the railroad's 10th-busiest line. Before...
, and Coast Starlight
Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
trains, and by Sound Transit
Sound Transit
Sound Transit has been the popular name of Washington state's Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority since September 19, 1999. It was formed in 1996 by the Snohomish, King, and Pierce County Councils...
's Sounder
Sounder Commuter Rail
Sounder commuter rail is a regional rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Tacoma. As of 2011, schedules serve the traditional peak commutes, with most trains running...
commuter train
Regional rail
Commuter rail, also called suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates between a city center, and the middle to outer suburbs beyond 15km and commuter towns or other locations that draw large numbers of commuters—people who travel on a daily basis...
s. Of the eighteen Washington stations served by Amtrak, King Street Station was the busiest in Fiscal Year 2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 1,850 passengers daily. For the first nine months of 2006, Sounder service boarded almost 1.2 million passengers at King Street Station.
History
Built between 1904 and 1906 by the Great Northern Railway and Northern Pacific RailwayNorthern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...
, the station replaced an antiquated station on Railroad Avenue, today's Alaskan Way
Alaskan Way
Alaskan Way, originally Railroad Avenue, is a street in Seattle, Washington, that runs along the Elliott Bay waterfront from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District—south of which it becomes East Marginal Way S.— to Broad Street in Belltown—north of which is Myrtle Edwards Park...
. Designed by the firm of Reed and Stem
Reed and Stem
Reed and Stem was an architecture firm based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a partnership between Charles A. Reed and Allen H. Stem . Formed in 1891, the successful partnership captured a wide range of commissions. One early work was Medical Hall on the campus of the University of Minnesota...
of St. Paul, Minnesota, who acted as associate architects for the design of Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the station was part of a larger project that moved the mainline away from the waterfront and into a 5,245 foot (1,590 m) tunnel under downtown. The depot's 242 feet (73.8 m) tower was modeled after Campanile di San Marco in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, making it the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction. This tower contained four huge mechanical clock faces built by E. Howard & Co.
E. Howard & Co.
thumb|Street clock by E. Howard & Co.The E. Howard & Co. clock and watch company was formed by Edward Howard and Charles Rice in 1858 after the demise of the Boston Watch Company...
of Boston, Massachusetts, offering the time to each of the four cardinal directions. At the time of installation it was said to be the second largest timepiece on the Pacific Coast, second only to the Ferry Building
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...
in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Later, this tower also served as a microwave tower for the Burlington Northern Railroad
Burlington Northern Railroad
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996....
, the successor of both the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, which occupied the second and third floors of the station, now deserted.
Over the years, remodeling has concealed the station's original interior. The final blow occurred in 1965 when the ornate coffered ceiling of the main waiting room, and a balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
and second level arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
were hidden by a lower dropped ceiling
Dropped ceiling
A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main ceiling. They may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, false ceiling, or suspended ceiling, and are a staple of modern construction and architecture. The area above the dropped ceiling is called the plenum space, as it is sometimes...
10 feet (3 m) below the original. Under the direction of Northern Pacific Architect A.C. Cayou, the waiting room
Waiting room
A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building where people sit or stand until the event they are waiting for occurs.There are generally two types of waiting room. One is where individuals leave one at a time, for instance at a doctor's office or a hospital, or outside a school...
was walled off and marble was removed from columns as well as ornamental plaster being sheared from the walls as high as the new ceiling. A grand staircase linking South Jackson Street with the west entrance was reduced to half its original size, and an addition housing escalators was constructed on the west elevation of the building that was not in keeping with the building's architecture. The only remaining feature left visible in the main waiting area was the terrazzo tile floor and the clock on the west wall above the restrooms.
From a practical standpoint, the station is close to downtown. However, unlike cities such as Boston, it is not near the intercity bus terminal, although the station is under a block from the International District of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. What appears to be an upper entrance is not used. The main entrance on the first floor is a small parking lot, rather than a loop.
Restoration
In November, 2006, the Office of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels
Greg Nickels
Gregory J. "Greg" Nickels was the 51st mayor of Seattle, Washington. He took office on January 1, 2002 and was reelected to a second term in 2005. In August 2009, Nickels finished third in the primary election for Seattle mayor, failing to qualify for the November 2009 general election, and...
announced a preliminary agreement between the City of Seattle and BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
to purchase the station for $1. The Seattle City Council
Seattle City Council
The Seattle City Council is committed to ensuring that Seattle, Washington, is safe, livable and sustainable. Nine Councilmembers are elected to four-year terms in nonpartisan elections and represent the entire city, elected by all Seattle voters....
formalized the agreement by passing legislation in December, 2006. The deal, revised to $10, was signed March 5, 2008. The purchase by the city freed up US$19 million of state and federal funds that can be used for further restoration of the station. The city has earmarked a further US$10 million for the restoration as part of a recently passed local transportation levy.
In 2008, the clocks in the clock tower were repaired, and the old microwave antennas were removed. Repair work to the exterior continues as of June 2010.
Phase two of the project began in May, 2010, when demolition work commenced on the second and third floors, previously used by Burlington Northern for division offices. Work is also underway on the baggage area, originally used as a restaurant. During June, 2010, work also began on demolition of a 1950s addition to the building that housed the escalators and of the Jackson Street Plaza. Demolition work was completed by September, 2010. A surprise development during this phase was the removal of the suspended ceiling in early July. Crews worked over several nights while the station was mostly empty removing the over 1,600 acoustic tiles and their framing. The current light fixtures and remaining suspended wires were to remain until enough funding becomes available to complete restoration. Currently the project focuses on the rebuilding of the Jackson Plaza. Thirty-six geothermic wells reaching 300 ft (91.4 m) into the ground were drilled to eventually heat and cool the station. A new concrete floor has been poured including seismic wall supports and space for an elevator and future ticketing and baggage areas.
In October, 2010, the King Street Station project was awarded $18.2 million from $2.4 billion in high-speed intercity passenger rail service funding announced by the U.S. Transportation Department
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
. This funding is needed by the project in order to complete seismic regrades and the restoration of the interior. The entire project is now expected to be completed by late 2011 to early 2012.
Architecture
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
building with terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
and cast stone ornamentation
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
, through relatively subdued in comparison to the clock tower. The entire first floor exterior is brick-clad with granite. The building is L-shaped with the clock tower
Clock tower
A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...
marking the main entry on the west facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
. The clock tower and main entry terminate the axis of King Street in Pioneer Square. The architectural style is sometimes denoted as "Railroad Italinate" with definite Italian inspirations in the clock tower while the base shows influences of Beaux Arts.
Inside the main entry, at the base of the clock tower, is the entry hall, known as the Compass Room. The name references the navigational star compass rose
Compass rose
A compass rose, sometimes called a windrose, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions — North, East, South and West - and their intermediate points. It is also the term for the graduated markings found on the traditional...
design laid out in hand-cut marble tiles on the floor at its center. The Compass Room has marble wainscotting, and is lighted by a multi-globe chandelier suspended above the compass rose from an elaborate plaster rosette
Rosette (design)
A rosette is a round, stylized flower design, used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity. Appearing in Mesopotamia and used to decorate the funeral stele in Ancient Greece...
. Triple-globe wall sconces around the perimeter illuminate a band of inlaid green iridescent glass tile on the walls. Circular clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
windows are trimmed in plaster relief decoration. This motif was originally repeated throughout most of the station's waiting room. While there is no known influence for the design of the interior, it resembles the ceiling of the famous Salone dei Cinquecento at the Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, Romanesque, crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany...
in Florence, Italy featuring a similar coffered grid with dentils and repeating circles.
Passenger Service
Currently King St. Station has twenty-one daily train departures:- Nine SounderSounder Commuter RailSounder commuter rail is a regional rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Tacoma. As of 2011, schedules serve the traditional peak commutes, with most trains running...
trains south to Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
(weekdays only) - Four SounderSounder Commuter RailSounder commuter rail is a regional rail service operated by BNSF on behalf of Sound Transit. Service operates Monday through Friday during peak hours from Seattle, Washington, north to Everett and south to Tacoma. As of 2011, schedules serve the traditional peak commutes, with most trains running...
trains north to Everett, WashingtonEverett, WashingtonEverett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
(weekdays only) - Two CascadesAmtrak CascadesThe Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada...
trains north to Vancouver, BC - Two CascadesAmtrak CascadesThe Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada...
trains south to Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States... - Two CascadesAmtrak CascadesThe Amtrak Cascades is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in partnership with the states of Washington and Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada...
trains south to Eugene, OregonEugene, OregonEugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
through PortlandPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States... - One Empire BuilderEmpire BuilderThe Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route and busiest daily train, carrying more than 500,000 travelers annually since 2007. Overall, it is the railroad's 10th-busiest line. Before...
train east to Chicago, Illinois - One Coast StarlightCoast StarlightThe Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
train south to Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
Notable Places Nearby
- Pioneer Square National Historic DistrictPioneer Square, Seattle, WashingtonPioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...
- Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
- International DistrictInternational District, Seattle, WashingtonThe Chinatown-International District of Seattle, Washington is an ethnic enclave neighborhood and is the center of Seattle's Asian American community. The neighborhood is multiethnic, consisting mainly of people who are of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ethnicity...
- Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel
- CenturyLink Field
- Safeco FieldSafeco FieldSafeco Field is a retractable roof baseball stadium located in Seattle, Washington. The stadium, owned and operated by the Washington-King County Stadium Authority, is the home stadium of the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball and has a seating capacity of 47,878 for baseball...
- Union StationUnion Station (Seattle)Union Station is a former train station in Seattle, Washington, USA, constructed between 1910 and 1911 to serve the Union Pacific Railroad and the Milwaukee Road. It was originally named Oregon and Washington Station, after a subsidiary line of the Union Pacific. Located at the corner of S. Jackson...
- International District/Chinatown Light Rail Station