Greyhound Bus Depot

The democratic potential of American mobility is embodied in thousands of bus depots built across the United States, in towns large and small, between 1930 and 1950. The Greyhound Bus Depot in downtown Pocatello is the only extant Idaho depot executed in the Streamline Moderne style that was typical of the era’s terminals. It is also the only modern building listed in the Pocatello Historic District.

Along with the Union Pacific Station and the Yellowstone Hotel across the street, the bus terminal forms a historical transportation node. The clean lines of the single-story building give this depot a special link with the 1940s. The building is clad in variegated tan brick with a base of burgundy colored tiles. A rounded corner entrance extending into a window wall illuminating the waiting room defines the main block of the building. Above the entrance is the depot’s original, wrap-around, animated neon sign. Still in operation, it features silhouettes of running greyhounds that flash above channel letters spelling “bus depot.” A narrow band of ribbon-like windows balance the composition on the opposite side of the entrance. This block of the building terminates to the rear in a deep canopy that shelters the bus bays. In 2016 plans were announced to restore the depot as a museum, since Greyhound now services Pocatello from a regional hub.