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Everett is the county seat and largest city in Snohomish County, Washington located 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. As of the 2000 census the city had a total population of 91,488, making it the 6th largest in the state and fourth-largest in the Puget Sound area. Because of growth and annexations, the population as of April 1, 2007 was estimated to be 101,800 by the Washington State Office of Financial Management. It received the All-America City Award in 2002.
Everett is home to the second-largest marina on the west coast of the United States and is the western terminus of the western segment of U.S. Highway 2. It is also home to Boeing's assembly plant for the 747, 767, 777, and the new 787 in the largest building in the world by volume at 116.5 million cubic feet.
In 1984, Everett was selected as the site of a U.S. Navy Homeport, Naval Station Everett. The port formally opened in 1992 and on January 8, 1997 welcomed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
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Everett Culture
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Media
The Everett Daily Herald newspaper has been published in print continuously since February 11th, 1901 and online since January 5, 1997, providing local and international news for Everett and the greater Snohomish County area. It was purchased by The Washington Post Company in 1978. The Herald also publishes The Enterprise Newspapers, weekly newspapers in south Snohomish County and north King County, the monthly Snohomish County Business Journal, weekly classifieds the Pickle Press and La Raza del Noroeste, a weekly Spanish language newspaper founded in 2006 to serve the greater Puget Sound area.
Everett is home to three radio stations. 90.7 FM KSER (est. 1991) is a public radio station broadcasting a wide range of music, as well as BBC News and NPR programming. 1380 AM KRKO (est. 1922) is a sports radio station affiliated with ESPN Radio and broadcast home for the Aquasox, Silvertips and Explosion. 1230 AM KWYZ (est. 1940s) is a Korean language station.
Arts
Downtown Everett is home to Everett Events Center, the Everett Performing Arts Center, home to the Village Theatre theatre company, the historic Everett Theatre, the Imagine Children's Museum, the Arts Council of Snohomish County and an array of street sculptures. The Everett Symphony (est. 1935) performs at the Everett Civic Auditorium.
Libraries
The historically and architecturally significant Everett Public Library Everett Public Library is a cornerstone of Everett's downtown and a beacon to its citizens. Additionally, the Evergreen Branch, situated on busy Evergreen Way in south Everett, serves an ever-increasing, ethnically diverse neighborhood.
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Everett Education
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Higher education
* Everett Community College (est. 1941)
* Western Washington University Everett Center
* ITT Technical Institute
* City University
* Ashmead College
* Bryman College
* Puget Sound Christian College (Closed effective Summer 2007)
* Henry Cogswell College (closed effective September 1, 2006)
High schools
Most of the city is serviced by the Everett School District (which also services areas south of the Everett, including the city of Mill Creek), however portions of southwestern Everett lie within the Mukilteo School District.
* Everett High School - Located in North Everett on Colby Avenue
* Cascade High School - Located in South Everett on E. Casino Road
* Sequoia High School - Located at 3156 Rucker Avenue
* Mariner High School - Located at 200 120th St. SW Everett, WA 98204 (Mukilteo School District) NOTE: Mariner High School is located outside the city limits in unincorporated Snohomish County, but has an Everett address.
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Everett History
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Permanent settlement by European descendants of what is now Everett started in 1861 when Dennis Brigham built a cabin on a 160 acre claim on the shore of Port Gardner Bay. Over the next several years, a handful of settlers moved to the area but it wasn't until 1890 that plans for platting a town were conceived.
In 1890, Henry Hewitt along with Charles Colby and Colgate Hoyt founded the Everett Land Company for the purpose of building the city of Everett, named after the son of Charles Colby, on some of the land surrendered by its original inhabitants under the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. Everett was officially incorporated on May 4, 1893, the year the Great Northern Railroad came to the town. Everett hoped that James J. Hill would make the town the terminus of his railroad. However Hill continued the railroad along the shore of Puget Sound to Seattle. Railroads and mines played a part in Everett's future. The mining community of Monte Cristo, depended on a railway for supplies. It was hoped that the railroad would cross the mountains and bring in traffic. For a while ore was smelted in Everett. Then sawmilling and port activity commenced. A dozen steam riverboats were built in Everett for the Yukon gold rush.
Everett was the place where several survivors of the Bellingham riots settled, until they were beaten and forcefully evicted by a mob on November 5, 1907. Everett also was the site of the Everett Massacre of 1916 which was an armed confrontation between a mob led by local Sheriff Donald McRae and IWW members. The IWW members were on the steamer Verona and sought to land, but Sheriff McRae denied them his permission. Shooting broke out and at least five IWW's were killed and two in the Sheriff's mob were killed, though they might have been accidentally shot by others in their allegedly drunken group.
Everett streets are named after each of the three founders. Adjacent streets Colby Avenue and Hoyt Avenue run north and south and are intersected by Hewitt Avenue running east and west just south of the BNSF Railway tracks cutting across Everett.
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Everett Housing
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Neighborhoods
The city of Everett maintains an Office of Neighborhoods which facilitate communication between the city and the 19 established neighborhood associations, with one proposed neighborhood/mixed-use development. Each of the officially recognized neighborhood associations operate independently to better their established geographic areas within the city. The neighborhoods are:
* Bayside - comprising much of the central business district, the waterfront, and the surrounding residential areas.
* Boulevard Bluffs - primarily residential area of the city bordering Mukilteo.
* Cascade View - residential area in South Everett, north of Everett Mall
* Delta - primarily residential area north of downtown Everett
* Everett Mall South - the area surrounding Everett Mall, a mix of residential and commercial areas.
* Evergreen - primarily residential area in South Everett.
* Glacier View - older residential area south of downtown.
* Harborview-Seahurst-Glenhaven - older residential areas south of downtown.
* Holly - a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial areas on the southern edge of the city.
* Lowell - formerly an independent town, Lowell is a primarily residential area southeast of downtown.
* Northwest - older residential areas northwest of downtown.
* Pinehurst-Beverly Park - mix of residential and commercial developments in South Everett.
* Port Gardner - residential neighborhoods south of downtown.
* Riverside - areas just northeast of downtown.
* Seaway Park - Industrial complex with residential developments located near the Boeing Plant.
* Silver Lake - residential and commercial areas surrounding Silver Lake in the extreme southeastern part of the city.
* South Forest Park - residential neighborhood near downtown.
* Valley View-Sylvan Crest-Larimer Ridge - residential areas in southeast Everett.
* View Ridge-Madison - residential areas near downtown, or central part of Everett.
* Westmont - primarily multi-family housing in the southwestern part of the city.
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Everett Lifestyle
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Historic district
The Everett historic district runs from around 8th Street to 25th Street, north to south and from Broadway to Grand Avenue, east to west. The district contains many old stately homes including the home of the former U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson on Grand Avenue.
Waterfront
Situated at the mouth of the Snohomish River on Possession Sound, the Everett waterfront is home to Naval Station Everett, a sprawling Kimberly-Clark paper mill and the Port of Everett (est. 1918), who oversees both a deep-water commercial seaport and a marina with over 2000 slips, which it claims to be the largest on the west coast of the United States. Ambitious redevelopment began in 2006 to convert the north end of the waterfront into a community of maritime business, retail shops and condominiums, beginning with the Port of Everett's Port Gardner Wharf. In 2006, the seaport received 119 ships and 59 barges, totaling some 192,000 short tons of cargo.
The waterfront is also home to the Everett Yacht Club, which was founded in 1907, although it existed in some form as early as 1895. During summer months, the marina is home to the Everett Farmer's Market (Sundays) and the Waterfront Concert Series (Thursday nights), part of a city-wide free concert series which in 2006 attracted over 26,000 visitors. Each September, Tenth Street Park on the waterfront is home to the annual Everett Coho Derby, while each August the marina promenade is gowned in local art during the Fresh Paint Festival of Artists.
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Everett Recreation
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Parks and gardens
Everett is home to 40 parks. The biggest parks are Walter E. Hall Park at 137 acres, Forest Park at 111 acres, Langus Riverfront Park at 96 acres, Kasch Park at 60 acres, Howarth Park at 28 acres, and Thornton A. Sullivan Park at 27 acres. Walter E. Hall Park near the Boeing plant sports a golf course and a skate park, Forest Park a swimming pool, hockey, horseshoes, miles of trails and an animal farm, Langus Park a boat launch, Kasch Park four softball fields, Howarth Park a sandy beach on Puget Sound, and Thornton A. Sullivan Park hosts a sandy swimming beach on Silver Lake as well as public docks for fishing.
Forest park
Forest Park is the oldest public park in Everett. Its address is 802 E. Mukilteo Boulevard. The park is 111 acres and is home to a baseball field, miles of trails, a playground, and a pool. The pool is the crowning jewel of the park, complete with lifeguards. Hundreds of children take swimming lessons at the pool every year, making the pool an extremely valuable part of the parks system.
Jetty Island
Along the waterfront lies Jetty Island, a narrow, 2-mile long man-made island, featuring large sandy beaches and relatively warm water. Jetty Island is the result of a failed attempt in the early 1900s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a freshwater harbor west of downtown Everett. The island is now a day-use park with no running water, electricity, or overnight facilities. The City of Everett Parks and Recreation Department celebrates Jetty Island Days during the summer, and provides free ferry service to the island from the 10th Street Boat Launch from June through the Labor Day holiday weekend. The wide flat beaches and strong winds make the island a popular kit-surfing destination.
Nishiyama Garden
Nishiyama Garden is a traditional Japenese garden located at the Nippon Business Institute at Everett Community College. It features Sukiya style wooden gates, gravel paths, stones, trees, a small stream and a portion of a famous Kintai Bridge from Iwakuni, Japan, one of Everett's sister cities.
Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens
Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens (2.4 acres) is an arboretum and park located at the south end of Legion Park, at the intersection of Alverson and Marine View Drive. It is open daily with free admission. Gardens include sculpture and vistas of Puget Sound, as well as:
* Conifer garden - includes Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, Pfitzeriana Aurea, Picea glauca, and Strobus ‘Nana’.
* Dahlia garden - a variety of dahlias.
* Japanese Maple grove - 17 varieties of maples, with ferns and hydrangeas.
* Perennial border - includes artichoke (Cynara scolymus), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra), giant hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), dwarf waterlily (Nymphaea), and New Zealand flax (Phormium cookianum).
* Small Urban Tree Walk
* White border - flowers and foliage in white, silver, and blue.
* Woodland garden - grotto with Knadhill and Exbury azaleas, lace-cap hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), and Pieris japonica.
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Everett Transportation
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Public transit service has operated in Everett since 1893. From 1910-1939 Everett was connected with Seattle by the Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway. Today Everett Transit (est. 1969) provides bus service throughout the city, operating 46 buses and 18 ParaTransit vehicles with daily ridership of 6,800 . Sound Transit provides commuter train and bus service to Seattle and bus service to Bellvue. Community Transit connects Everett with the remainder of Snohomish County.
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Everett Weather
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The climate of Everett is heavily influenced by marine air masses which tend to moderate temperatures with seasonal variations much less pronounced than inland areas.
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