The Inland Empire Electric Railway ran between Spokane, Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, during the early 1900s, carrying both passengers and freight. It helped to turn Coeur d'Alene into a tourist destination, the major attraction being the steamships which plied the waters of Lake Coeur d'Alene.
Large three phase pass through insulators can still be seen on the north end of the building, along with a second set beside them having been removed and bricked over. On the east (front) side are a set of smaller three phase insulators and a set of single phase insulators (the white ones).
Initially, power was supplied to the railway by Washington Water Power Co. from its powerhouse on the Spokane River. However, resistance in the overhead lines caused sufficient voltage drop that the electric locomotives couldn't operate further east than Gibbs, a mile and a half west of Coeur d’Alene. In 1904, to remedy the situation, five power-boosting substations were constructed at intervals along the route, this one being right in Coeur d'Alene, at the end of the line. This substation is the only surviving remnant of this ambitious transportation related enterprise which was also associated with the area’s early movers and shakers.
Though initially quite profitable, in 1909 the railway was sold to the the Great Northern Railroad and by by 1919 a decline in mining and lumbering in the area brought shrinking income for the electric line and the system went into bankruptcy. It was closed shortly after and the tracks and ties torn up. The other substations were demolished, leaving only the Coeur d’Alene substation as a reminder of what had been a thriving interurban transportation system.
Inland Empire Electric
Railway Substation
Articles of incorporation for the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane Electric Railway Company were
filed in November 1902, in order to commence interurban service by the next summer. Both
freight and passengers were hauled. The enterprise eventually emerged at the Inland Empire
Electric Railway, and provided local tourist service for more than a generation between Spokane
and the steamboat lines popular on Lake Coeur d'Alene. This popular recreational interurban
and steamboat combination was an important part of life in that region.
This straightforward brick structure is composed of two principal units, a northern
one of two stories and a southern of one. The long southern portion of the building is
made up of ten brick bays divided by buttresses in the same material and penetrated
by windows of small size. A large set of double doors in the second bay from the north,
capped with a segmental arch, marks the main entrance. The building is two bays deep
in the same style, with a roof sloping from east to west, mostly concealed by the cornice,
The foundation is stone.
On the interior the building is basically open space with exposed roof joists.
From the NRHP Nomination Form