As a centerpiece of the small community of Morton, the Morton Depot built in 1910 is one of the last remaining two-story depots in Lewis County aside from the Chehalis and Centralia stations. An extremely significant icon of Washington’s railroad heritage, the depot is the last remaining structure of the Tacoma Eastern Railroad that provided the original route to Mt. Rainier National Park in 1905 via the “National Park Limited” train. As Morton continued to develop and grow along with the transition from railroad to freight truck traffic, the depot operated passenger service until 1930 when it predominantly acted as a freight station. Falling into disrepair until the Cowlitz River Valley Historical Society purchased the building in 1984 for $10 with a dream to restore the property, the building’s restoration was completed in recent years. Featured on the History Channel documentary Mega Movers, the station was moved from its current location on Fairhart Way from the original site at the Tubafor Mill in 2005 as final restorations to the building culminated in the move and construction of a new interpretive site next to the restored depot.
