Stanwood, WA (STW)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$118,682

Station Ridership

FY 2011

4,134

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Stanwood station, which opened on November 21, 2009, represented a return of passenger rail service to this community after hiatus of 38 years, as the Great Northern Railway last stopped there in 1971. The main canopies on the platform are double roofs supported by open wooden trestles, reminiscent of barns, upon shaped concrete pillars. The new 600-foot platform is fully accessible and includes covered ramps, railings, seating, lighting, and landscaping to blend in with downtown Stanwood. Begun in the spring of 2009 after a four-year delay, it was finished in the fall of the same year.

The Washington State Legislature provided the Washington State Department of Transportation with $5 million to construct a new train station platform in Stanwood. This project also involved creating storm water detention ponds, street improvements, hazardous material abatements, and construction of a siding track to allow Amtrak trains to stop without affecting BNSF Railway freight movement. A road closure was also required for safety reasons.

The Washington Transportation Secretary noted on the occasion of the station opening that the new service arrived at an opportune moment, with the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. coming soon after, as well as providing residents more opportunities to travel to Portland and Seattle. The station also allows more tourist access to nearby Camano Island.

Stanwood sits about 50 miles north of Seattle at the mouth of the old channel of the Stillaguamish River and spreads across the river delta. The town began in 1866 with a saloon and trading locale near an encampment of the Stillaguamish (“people of the river”) tribe, which served farmers and loggers traveling up and down the river. The first post office established the community as Centerville in 1870, and the town was platted in 1888 and incorporated in 1903.

In its earliest days, the river was wide enough to allow steamboats to navigate through the winding tidal flats up to Florence, another early river community. D.O. Pearson arrived in 1877 with capital and goods for a substantial store and also built a steamboat dock on the Stillaguamish. He became the sixth postmaster in seven years and took the opportunity to give the locale a less generic name, Stanwood, after his wife Clara’s maiden name. The rest of the Pearson clan came to Puget Sound on the Mercer Expeditions and settled on nearby Whidbey Island.

Two prominent Norwegian settlers, Oliver B. Iverson and Reverend Christian Joergenson arrived in the 1880s, along with their relatives and friends, to farm and work in the logging camps nearby. Farmers built dams and dikes along the river and its sloughs, changing the landscape forever. The Norwegian heritage they brought with them is still celebrated today.

The Seattle and Montana Railway (controlled by the Great Northern Railway), put down tracks one mile east of Stanwood, establishing a depot at what became East Stanwood. A short “dinky” railway, the H&H, incorporated locally provided service to and from the depot and for the benefit of both passengers and the Stanwood Lumber Company, to ship lumber by rail, using a steam engine and trolley. East Stanwood was incorporated in 1922, as distinct from the older Stanwood by the waterfront. The two towns consolidated in 1960. The “Twin Cities” remain a small community of about 4,500 today.

Across Possession Sound from Stanwood lies Camano Island, a relatively unspoiled area with two state parks and many pleasant, natural public spaces. Originally charted in the 1830s, the island was logged for its Douglas firs and settled by Norwegian families. Fishing and clamming are popular pastimes for visitors to this island.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing or help with baggage at the Stanwood station. Tickets can be purchased at the Amtrak station in Everett or at the Quik-Trak machine in Mount Vernon.

Stanwood is served by four daily trains.