The old depot.

Lester began as a logging camp on the west side of Stampede Pass alongside the Green River east of Seattle. The Northern Pacific Railway established the company town of Lester in 1892 about 7 miles west of the Stampede Tunnel which was opened in 1888. The town was named for a railroad telegrapher.

At one time, Lester held extensive steam engine support facilities including this depot, a roundhouse, coaling docks, and a population of about 1,000 by the 1920s. As steam engines gave way to diesels, steam support facilities were no longer necessary; the region began to shift focus to logging.

In the meantime, the city of Tacoma began purchasing property in the area in order to maintain a water supply for the city. As a result, the city of Tacoma placed a locked gate across the only access road; several court battles were fought over the restricted access (to residents and guests); the land is in King County, Tacoma in Pierce County. The court cases mostly favored Tacoma. The last resident died in 2002 and the area is now jointly held by the Forest Service and the Tacoma Utilities with no public access allowed.

The railroad mothballed the line through Lester and Stampede Tunnel in 1984; the line was upgraded and re-opened in 1996.

I took this picture in 1990; I drove to the site so the gate must have been open. The depot was later burned by arson; the Burlington Northern Railroad – successor to the Northern Pacific – tore it down the remnants in 1992. Remaining buildings in Lester were razed in 2017.

Nothing lasts forever …