Prints Charming: Letterpress Depot Project Back on Track in Englewood

In 2013, the City of Englewood issued an RFP for its historic train depot, a circa 1915 Mission Revival building formerly operated by the Santa Fe Railroad that's on both the state and national historic registers. Tom and Patti Parson proposed putting a museum dedicated to letterpress printing, design and typography in the structure, which the city had moved from its original site to 3098 South Galapago Street in 1994. After the Parsons appeared before Englewood City Council and preservation experts numerous times, the Letterpress Depot became the unanimous choice, and the city agreed to sell the depot to the couple for $30,000.

More than a decade later, though, after restoration challenges and a since-settled lawsuit with the city over delays, the project is still far from finished. But Jason Wedekind, president of the Englewood Depot, a volunteer-run nonprofit overseeing the transformation, says the museum is back on track to open within the next two years.

Tom Parson remains involved as the executive director, working closely with a board of directors that includes commercial printers, graphic designers, artists and writers involved in the national letterpress community. In August, the Letterpress Depot launched a $550,000 capital campaign. Thanks to a $248,000 contribution from the State Historical Fund to restore the second story, “we are over the hump," Wedekind says. “We know the upstairs is going to be done this year. The next question is, how quickly can we fundraise for the downstairs?"

Additional financial support has come from community contributions, Englewood City Council and City Manager Shawn Lewis. According to Wedekind, the nonprofit now needs approximately $200,000 to reach its goal to finish restoration on the main floor and basement, which includes making the entire building ADA-compliant. "We’re actively searching for donors that believe in our mission and want to speed up the process,” Wedekind says.

Wedekind knows that the community is eager to see progress, and he says it’s happening — though it's not always visible from the outside. In the last six months, an HVAC system and electricity were added, and the bathrooms in the basement are in progress. “If someone wants to walk through the space to see our progress, I’m open to it,” he says. “We aren’t hiding anything; we just didn’t realize the problems of a 100-year-old building. No one could have.”

Some Englewood residents are skeptical. Emma Wood, a neighbor who's lived next to the property since 2022, is eager to see more action. “The lack of progress seen at the Depot the last three years has been frustrating and discouraging,” she says. “Aside from occasional landscaping, the Depot has not been given the time or attention the historical building and community deserve. Having been purchased over a decade ago, the owners have lacked accountability and oversight to make the Depot a productive and thriving center in Englewood.”

Wedekind, who's a graphic designer, remains optimistic. For him, this is a passion project to save the lost art of the letterpress.

“I believe in the Depot’s mission of preserving and educating,” he says. “People are calling, saying they have stuff in their basement they think is worthwhile, but they don’t know what to do with it. We have to save this stuff before it gets thrown away and keep the history alive.”

The plan is for the basement to serve as a working vintage letterpress print shop; it currently houses a newspaper press from the 1880s and another that survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, among other items. The museum will also include space for exhibits, demonstrations, workshops, events and meetings, typographic research and printing projects.

“When we started on this journey, we said we were going to be a resource for the community, and we stand behind that 100 percent,” Wedekind says. “We’re closer than people realize.”

Learn more about the Letterpress Depot here.