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The Hub at SWIFT Center Capital Campaign

It's Time for a New Chapter

The Hub at SWIFT Center was designed for a singular purpose: bringing people together.

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For over 50 years, the doors of the Hub have been closed. The building still stands — magnificent, resilient, waiting. Now, Skagit County has the chance to bring it back to life. The Hub at SWIFT Center Capital Campaign is restoring one of the Northwest’s most extraordinary historic buildings and returning it to the community it was always meant to serve.

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Ornate round stained glass window on aged, peeling peach wall with greenery on sides.

The Hub Was Built for Belonging

In 1912, Northern State Hospital opened on more than 800 acres of carefully chosen land. Architects Heath & Gove crafted stunning Spanish Colonial Revival buildings. The famed Olmsted Brothers designed the grounds. Together, they created something radical: a healing environment built on the belief that dignity, beauty, and connection were essential to care.

When The Hub opened in 1916, its purpose was singular and profound: connection and community. Concerts. Dances. Church services. Birthday parties. Community classes. For decades, thousands gathered here — staff and patients, families and neighbors — sharing the simple human experience of being together.

The music stopped in 1973. But the purpose never left.

Black and white photo of four musicians seated with instruments: piano, saxophone, trumpet, and drums.
Photo courtesy of Sedro-Woolley Museum
Smiling woman with glasses sitting on outdoor ledge near stairs and trees.
In its day, the Hub was the center of delight — a place to recapture some of the joys of a former life. A place to be handsome and pretty at a dance, a place to hear music that lifts the soul... It's fitting that the Hub is restored.
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Amy Muia, NSH Historian
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF Northern State Hospital

The Hub at SWIFT Center’s Next Chapter

The future is in our hands. The Hub’s restoration is a community effort — and every gift matters. Here’s how the funding comes together:

DOWNLOAD FUNDING DETAILS
Total Project Investment: $8 Million

$4.25 M

Community
Campaign

$2.75 M

Public Grants & Allocations

$1 M

Port of Skagit Investment

The Hub Event Center: A Vision Restored

The Hub isn’t just another old building waiting for restoration. It’s the catalyst project that will unlock the future of the entire SWIFT Center campus — proof that preservation and progress can be mutually beneficial, that honoring heritage creates opportunity. The comprehensive restoration will transform the Hub into a fully functioning event and community center — honoring its 1916 character while meeting the needs of today.

Main Floor Event Space

A 300+ person venue with restored arched ceilings, a performance stage, and flexible configuration for everything from weddings to conferences.

Essential Renovations

  • Seismic upgrades:
  • Clay tile roof replacement
  • ADA accessibility
  • Window reconstruction
  • New utility systems
  • Technology infrastructure

Lower Level

A modern catering kitchen and breakout rooms for workshops and small gatherings.

Project Timeline

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Feasibility
Study

Complete
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Fundraising
Campaign

Fall 2025 –2027
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Construction
Begins

Fall 2027
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Grand
Opening

2028
Watercolor of a busy, spacious coworking space with high wooden arches and large arched windows.
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Imagine the Possibilities

The Hub was designed not for efficiency or profit — but for the profound human need to come together. When we restore it, we’re not just preserving a building. We’re reclaiming a place where community happens.

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Celebrations That Matter

Wedding receptions beneath arched ceilings where generations once danced. Birthday milestones. Anniversary gatherings. Moments that deserve a space that understands permanence.

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Innovation That Inspires

Workshops, conferences, and convenings that honor both heritage and future. Community leaders and entrepreneurs collaborating in spaces built to inspire.

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Culture That Connects

Concerts filling rooms that were always meant to echo with music. Local artists. Community classes. Shared experiences that strengthen the bonds that hold us together.

Smiling elderly man with glasses and woman in colorful scarf stand outdoors in front of a beige building.
We walk the trails three times a week and have been on every trail. You get to meet new people and feel a sense of community. The curiosity of the Hub is there and the excitement is palpable.”
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Paul Ingalls & Jane Zillig
Campaign Committee Members

More Than Nostalgia

We’re learning what we lose when screens replace handshakes and algorithms curate connection. The Hub offers something we’re genuinely hungry for: real space where real people gather — where social bonds deepen across dinner tables and dance floors, where divides narrow when we share the same room.

Heath & Gove and the Olmsted Brothers knew it in 1912. We know it now.

The infrastructure of community isn’t just roads and utilities. It’s the places where we gather, celebrate, and dream together.

Black and white photo of people sitting side-by-side at a bar or counter on wooden chairs.
Photo from Northern State Hospital News - Lunch Counter at The Hub
Seven young girls in dresses posed on steps outside a building with decorative door and columns.
Kris Goodan’s birthday celebration 1955, Kris top row, far right. Outside of the Superintendent’s Mansion
I lived on campus from 1950-1960 while my father, Dr. Jones was the Superintendent at Northern State. We went to the Hub every week to watch a movie in the Assembly Hall for years. My three siblings and I sat in the back on a raised platform with the Nurses, Attendants and other children. News reels always started first and then the movie, usually an animal movie like “Francis and the Talking Mule” or an older cowboy movie….Those evenings remain some of my favorite memories, filled with laughter and a sense of community. I’m so excited to think that future generations will gather in the Hub in the same spirit—finding entertainment, joy, and shared moments that become lifelong memories.
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Kris Goodan
Superintendent Dr. Jones’s Daughter
In 1964, I was 18 and newly married when my husband shipped off to a deployment and realized that I needed to get a job. I found an ad in the newspaper looking for Aides at NSH. I took the LPN class through Skagit Valley College and we had our graduation ceremony at Northern State in the new gymnasium. I worked in Denny in Sleep Therapy until the Hospital closed. I spent a lot of time in the Hub during those years. The Hub was where we took our breaks and had a Coke and hamburger. There was a little store for residents to shop and a chance to rest on your break with co-workers. ‘I had a good time here at Northern State. I was never afraid. We had such great doctors.
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Colleen Slack
NSH Nurse from 1965-1972
Smiling elderly woman in black coat seated outdoors holding a black-and-white group photo.
Colleen holding her Nursing School Class of 1965 photo outside of the Hub Building