Everett Archives: The Story of the Streets
Aerial photo of downtown is from the Neil House Collection, courtesy of the Everett Public Library.
What’s in a street? Our roadways are just surfaces for transportation, after all... or so it would seem.
Yet, a close look at the streets of our city reveals a story about where we live — a story about investors, public works projects, and how early residents viewed the organization and structure of the city we call home today.
Let’s take a look at the story underneath our feet (and wheels).
The Grid
The first thing to notice when you look at a map of North Everett is that everything is laid out on more or less a grid scheme: streets run north/south and east/west.
These right angles are here because large chunks of the peninsula were platted by early investors and broken into lots for homes.
Aerial maps of the 1880s show large tracts of undeveloped land on the north end of the peninsula. Early Everett residents recall that for many years kids would seek out forested areas (where Legion Park is now) as a place to pick berries and play in the woods.
In the south end of town the streets still follow a number system, but a look at a map reveals lines that are more curved in keeping with changing aesthetics of home developers and city planners. Development spread down from the peninsula over the years and cul-de-sacs, curving arterials, and one-way streets help to define the residential areas south of 41st street.
What’s in a Name?
The main streets in North Everett are named for early investors. Colby, Hewitt, Hoyt, and Rucker were all instrumental in the timber and ore empire that was expected to spring up here at the terminus of a transcontinental railway. The railway didn’t end up coming to Everett, but the planned city stayed on, thriving as a mill town. And today’s streets still bear the names of these early dreamers.
One early father of Everett who often gets overlooked is McDougall. The residential street that has his name runs north/south just to the east of Broadway Ave. McDougall foresaw Everett’s waterfront as an ideal place to build a new kind of “whaleback” ship. McDougall’s ships had large metal doors that closed over the cargo held therein. Exactly one whaleback was built here, but we still have McDougall’s name with us on the map.
A look at the Everett map in the Riverside Neighborhood reveals some oddball outliers: Victor and Leonard go east/west for an interval of a few blocks before ending, Fulton was an alley that was turned into a street. It runs on a north/south trajectory, only to end abruptly for a few residential blocks, before resuming on its course.
Another street that once ran through Riverside is gone completely, thanks to the interstate. When I-5 came through town in the 1960s it completely obliterated Market Street, which was once notorious for its brothels.
Neil House
Many streets in Everett were unpaved even into the 1970s. A look into the digital archives in the Northwest History Room at the Everett Public Library reveals a cache of information. In the 1970s there was a civic photographer named Neil House. Mr. House was hired by the city to make a visual record of the city as it was by snapping photos on luridly-colored 35mm slide film.
The Neil House collection shows many muddy streets on the periphery of town, with period-appropriate Buicks or Oldsmobiles parked on the shoulder. So the next time you step out to your vehicle and your boots aren’t muddied, just remember — it wasn’t always so, even recently.
Today
You don’t need to know the story behind the streets to appreciate Everett. You can just enjoy walking down an oak-lined residential arterial, or appreciate a pleasant jaunt down Colby past coffee shops and restaurants.
But a bit of historical context can give a richer view into the history of this remarkable place we call home.
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