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The old and largely forgotten Railway Express Agency building in Salem is $575,200 closer to coming back to life after the Oregon Transportation Commission approved funding for the 123-year-old structure Nov. 14.

“This is an exciting project,” said Shelley Snow, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. “It is nice to see the process going forward.”

The process started when an anonymous donor contributed $100,000 toward the restoration of the building. Once it is restored, it will be named 鈥淒ixie’s Depot鈥� after the donor’s late wife, who fell in love with the building when she and her husband strolled past it on walks together.

Snow said the restoration project is part of a larger effort to create a transportation hub including trains, buses, bicycles and cars as well as pedestrian paths.

Another $20,000 for the project is coming from the State Historic Preservation Office. Greyhound executives, who hope to use the old station as a bus depot, have kicked in $60,000. The rest of the money will come from regular transportation investment programs and state matching funds.

Kimberli Fitzgerald, the senior historic planner for the city of Salem, said she particularly loves the story of Dixie and her husband. “It is a truly beautiful and touching story,” said Fitzgerald. “Dixie loved that building.”

The building was part of Salem’s second train depot. Salem’s original station, built 1871, burned down in 1885. The second station, a Queen Anne-style building, was built in 1889 and burned down in 1917 – the day before the United States entered World War I.

The smaller “baggage depot,” as it was known, is a remnant salvaged from the fire. After the fire, it was moved 100 feet to the south of its original location and rotated 180 degrees. It was then used for freight handling by the Railway Express Agency and continued to be used for freight until the 1970s. It still retains some of the Queen Anne-style architectural elements of the 1880s station.