Built in 1955, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) station at Kitimat is a tangible marker of the modernization and large-scale environmental modification that took place in northern British Columbia in the 1950s. The station was built at the terminus of the Terrace-Kitimat rail line, which had been constructed at the request of the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) to serve its nearby smelter and the town where its workers lived.
Located at the head of the Douglas Channel, about 800 km north of Vancouver, Kitimat is in the territory of the Haisla people. The Haisla, meaning "dwellers downriver," have occupied their traditional territory since time immemorial, living off the land and water resources of their territory. The Haisla village of Kitamaat is located south of Alcan's community of Kitimat.
The settler community of Kitimat came about because of the rise of aluminum manufacturing after the Second World War. While the area had been considered for a railway route several times since 1874, it was Alcan, seeking to increase its production of aluminum, which saw potential in the area as a smelting site as it provided access to the Pacific, had land suitable for a townsite, and could be powered by an abundant source of hydroelectricity - once a dam, reservoir, and generating station were built. Alcan signed an agreement with the British Columbia government to undertake this megaproject in 1950. The dam on the Nechako River, 77 km from Kitimat, flooded large areas of homelands, forests, farmlands, and recreational areas. The Cheslatta T'en First Nation were forced to leave their flooding territory at very short notice with minimal compensation. Meanwhile, the approximately 200 Haisla people living near the proposed townsite at Kitimat were only minimally considered by Alcan planners and managers.
Between 1952 and 1954, CNR constructed a 69-kilometre branch line linking Kitimat to Terrace, followed soon after by construction of the Kitimat station. Alcan needed a means to export aluminum ingots from its nearby smelter site and import goods and transport people to the town. The workers and their families who arrived by train had a variety of geographic and ethnic origins. Newcomers included Portuguese, Italians, Hungarians, Greeks, Germans, and Scandinavians, and many came directly to Kitimat upon their arrival in Canada. The railway station at Kitimat had a combination of functions, including passenger and baggage/express and communication services such as telegraph and radio transmission. Although its passenger services ended in the spring of 1958, the station continued to serve as a telegraph office until the 1970s.
The Kitimat station illustrates the mid-20th century modernization of CNR's approach to architecture and branding in its fusion of Modernist architectural characteristics, such as its clean lines and horizontal orientation, with attributes common to historic CNR stations and domestic architecture. Built to a unique plan but with shared design elements with other CNR stations, the station was constructed with lightweight materials that were popular at the time, such as aluminum roof shingles, asbestos siding, and plywood.
The District of Kitimat Council designated the station as a municipal heritage site in 1985 and local residents continue to actively advocate for the restoration and revitalization of the station.
