Issaquah station
railway station in Issaquah, the United States of America
Issaquah station, also known as Issaquah Depot or the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway Depot, is a former railway station located in Issaquah, Washington, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1889 as a passenger station and freight warehouse for the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (SLS&E), serving what was then known as Gilman, Washington (and as Squak Valley until 1888). The town was renamed Issaquah around the turn of the century. Only a few years after the depot's opening, in the 1890s, the SLS&E was taken over by the Northern Pacific Railway.
The Issaquah Depot's use as a passenger station ended in the 1940s, and Northern Pacific abandoned the building in 1962.
The City of Issaquah purchased the building in 1984. Restoration began in 1985 and was completed in the early 1990s, and the depot now operates as a museum, managed by the non-profit Issaquah Historical Museums (formerly known as the Issaquah Historical Society). The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Issaquah station” as railway station in Issaquah, the United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as railway station in Issaquah, the United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6088103. VIAF identifies the subject as 134049543. The Library of Congress control number is no2005009059. Authority coordinates are 47.531, -122.035. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1889, 1888, 1962 and 1984.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Issaquah station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Issaquah station primary sources, Issaquah station archive and Issaquah research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Issaquah station”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Issaquah station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.