'This is a great, great thing for the City of Wasilla': Ribbon cut for new home of Wasilla Train Depot

The winds were blustery, and the snow made visibility challenging, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the dozens who came out to welcome in a new era for the Alaska Railroad as the first train pulled into the new home for the Wasilla Train Depot.

“Today was the debut for the new Alaska Railroad passenger stop here in Wasilla,” said Meghan Clemens, External Affairs Director for the Alaska Railroad.

“This is a great, great thing for the city of Wasilla,” declared Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford, who said that the new location for the depot will allow tourists coming through Wasilla an opportunity to get off the train safely, but also opens up the city to another benefit.

“It will help the economics of our city because we will have tourists in the summertime.” The mayor added that they city is working on plans of how to accommodate all the tourists and more exciting things to come.

The ribbon cutting has been a longtime coming, as plans to move the Wasilla Train Depot had been in motion going back since at least 2015, with the actual move of the depot taking place back in 2020.

“It is a long time coming. We’ve worked really hard to get this done,” said Mayor Ledford, adding, “The railroad got on board with us to get this done, so today is monumental this is the first stop they have made at the new depot and we are excited about it and what it will do for Wasilla.”

“The plan was always to reconcile the passenger stop with this depot building, and we’re really excited to be able to do that today,” said Clemens. She explained that from that first train on, all passenger trains will now stop at the new depot it would remain so for the rest of the winter train season and into the summer.

The depot, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, began construction in 1916 as part of a plan for the Alaska Railroad to open access to the interior destinations within the state. The depot marked the site of the R.R. Junction with the Carle Trail, now known as Knik Road/Main Street/ Fishhook Road, serving as the main supply route between the Tidewater Trade Center of Knik and the prosperous gold mines of the Willow Creek, what is now called Hatchers Pass.

The improvement of the supply lines to the miners and early settlers in this region was beneficial in leading to the creation and development of Wasilla, but did bring about the demise of Knik.

For many years, the train depot served as the major “outside” communications within the Borough and beyond, using trains, telegraph, and later adding a railroad system telephone.

Local Lions Clubs would go on to preserve the depot and later, the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce restored the depot, and now the Chamber maintains offices out of the depot.

“We are super excited about this building. We really missed our train passengers, the interaction we had with them at our other location, so we are excited to have them back,” said Jessica Viera, the CEO of Wasilla Chamber of Commerce after the ribbon cutting. We meet with a lot of them as they wait for the train or disembark from the train.

The move will also alleviate the perpetual traffic jams that always built up along Knik Goose Bay Road and the Parks Highway, frustrating commuters for years.

“Traffic would be backed up 60 to 80 cars deep. It just caused havoc in traffic.”

“This is such a great thing for the community, and the turnout today is the Mat-Su way, rugged and undeterred by the weather,” commented Representative Cathy Tilton, who was on hand to cut the ribbon, along with Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries and Mayor Ledford.

“This is a good thing. This is going to be key to a lot of things yet to come,” said Alaska State Representative Kevin McCabe.

“We are all about Wasilla and moving it forward.”