Great Northern Scouts a New Newport Depot
Railroad brass inspect the yards and hint that Newport is on the list for a new station—if the town can open Washington Avenue.
A party of Great Northern officials visited Newport Sunday and Monday. The party consisted of H. A. Kennedy, assistant general manager; O. S. Bowen, division superintendent; P. C. Connelly, roadmaster, and J. R. W. Davis, engineer of maintenance of way, and had two private cars.
They inspected the work being done at Albeni Falls and at the Meadows east of the city, where the railroad is making a big fill, and the east end of the yards, where they are excavating. They also put in some time inspecting the depot and the proposed new depot site.
One of the officials stated that the company contemplated the erection of several new depots on the west end of the line during the ensuing year, and that Newport was on the list for a new building.
It is to be hoped that when the company does construct a new passenger station it will select a site either east or west of the present structure, and remove the old building and open up Washington avenue across their tracks.
“Newport was on the list for a new building.”
Rail depots once decided which streets opened and which blocks prospered; Newport’s fight to open Washington Avenue across the tracks was really a fight over downtown access. Modern debates about freight corridors, station siting, and downtown connectivity turn on the same geography.
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