Albany, OR (ALY)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2012

$1,774,159

Station Ridership

FY 2012

39,682

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The masonry Albany station was constructed for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1909, and is one of the oldest continuously-used passenger rail stations in the United States. After the purchase of the station by the city in 2003, it was restored and expanded. From 2004 to 2006, vacant commercial buildings were removed from the site, landscaping installed, a new parking lot created and period lighting added, providing a plaza and waiting area

The building was rededicated on April 18, 2006, and the initial restoration cost approximately $11.3 million provided by federal, state, local and Amtrak funds. In December of 2006, construction began on a 60-foot clock tower in the center of the roundabout at the depot’s Lyon Street entrance. The tower spells out, “Albany,” in illuminated letters and features two clocks donated by the Greater Albany Rotary Club. The city would also like to restore the former Railway Express building nearby.

The confluence of the Calapooia and Willamette Rivers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley is where Hiram Smead and Abner Hackleman staked a claim in 1845. They sold their stake to Walter and Thomas Monteith two years later—for $400 and a Cayuse pony. The Monteith brothers, whose family home still stands, christened their new town in honor of their New York hometown of Albany.

Named the Linn County seat in 1851, and linked to markets by regular steamboat service, Albany prospered as a political and commercial center, typifying much of the early development in the mid-Willamette Valley.

The arrival of the Oregon and California Railroad in 1871 greatly furthered Albany's growth, as did the 1880 completion of a canal bringing drinking water and hydropower from the Cascade foothills to the growing city. The Oregon Pacific Railroad came in January of 1887. The railroad and the canal project also brought 70 to 80 Chinese-born residents, who occupied a one-block section of downtown. The city’s largely white workforce was employed by a number of small factories and food processing centers.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a research center on the old Albany College campus in 1942, focusing on the development of new metallurgical processes. First known as the Northwest Electro-development Facility, the site produced titanium and zirconium and fostered the growth of a new rare metals industry in Albany led by internationally recognized companies like the Oregon Metallurgical Company (Oremet) and Wah Chang. Today, Albany styles itself as “rare metals capital of the world,” as it produces zirconium, hafnium and titanium in quantity. Zirconium, for instance, is highly resistant to corrosion and is used in both jewelry and in nuclear reactors.

Albany has one of the largest and most varied collections of historic buildings in Oregon. Two residential neighborhoods and the downtown commercial district were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s. Together they preserve the greatest variety of historic housing styles in Oregon and remain the cornerstones of the city's identity.

Amtrak provides both ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

Albany is served by six daily trains. The Amtrak Cascades are primarily financed through funds made available by the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Transportation.