Everett Archives: Silver Lake
Header image courtesy of the Northwest History Room, Everett Public Library.
“It was quiet, except for the dip of the oars, or a voice from the group on the shore and when one shouted, the echo bounded back and forth across the lake, the forest was so dense. This is the memory I cherish... Silver Lake in its original setting.”
- Alvin B. Petterson, memoirist and Everett historian
Silver Lake has always been a beacon to recreators. The water of this oblong lake is indeed silver-colored on overcast days. But when the sun comes out the cerulean water sparkles and dazzles. It’s hard for locals to resist a dip!
In the beginning, fun-loving crowds came by foot or horseback, then by hay wagon on a Sunday afternoon. The surrounding tract of land was a densely forested area in the early twentieth century, far removed from the industrial microclimate of smokestack-filled Everett.
Next arrived visitors in porkpie hats and flapper dresses. They came by rail. The lake is located next to the old Interurban trolley route that connected Seattle to Everett. Silver Lake was a popular place for travelers to disembark to enjoy a leisurely weekend afternoon on the conifer-shaded and sand-covered shores. Early photos of Silver Lake show weekend parties in Roaring Twenties garb rowing their boats across the choppy water.
The McClain Family // Alvin B. Pettersen Collection
Next, came the families eating picnic lunches next to Model T Fords. As the automobile began to replace the old rail line, motorists went on weekend drives. Silver Lake was a great place for the working folk of Everett to restore and reward themselves after a week of working in the mills.
In the 1930s, as marathon dances came into vogue, a dance hall was built on the lower east side of the lake. The hall extended on piers over the water of the lake near where Emory’s restaurant is today. If you look at the waters of Silver Lake today you can still see the rows of weathered piers jutting out of the water -- the detritus of history.
A few decades later came the roller rink. It was in a barn-like building on the southwest shores of the lake. You can still see the ruins of it today, just a little bit south of the playground at Thornton A. Sullivan Park. Around the same time, the city offered a giant toboggan slide that dropped adventurous swimmers and divers into the waves of the lake.
Toboggan slide // Steve Bertrand Collection
The Green Lantern Tavern was a local watering hole located on the northeast side of the lake, located on the waterfront on a spit of land. It seems that summer recreators could row their skiffs across the lake for a drink, then row back. Today the tavern is gone, but the spit of land is known as the Green Lantern Park -- one of the tiniest, cutest little parks in the city. (The park’s name has nothing to do with the DC Comics superhero, but in my mind has everything to do with the green light at the end of the dock in the Great Gatsby).
The Green Lantern Tavern // Steve Bertrand Collection
Today, people still flock to Silver Lake, especially to the picnic-perfect shores of Thornton A. Sullivan Park. On a given sunny day, when the light is glimmering on the waves, you can expect to see disc golfers tossing Frisbees, fishers casting their lines, families picnicking in shelters, kayakers cleaving the water, and even yogis perched on top of stand up paddleboards.
Silver Lake has always been a place that people have sought out. Its desirability brings contentment to crowds of Everett residents as each generation accrues more happy memories on the shores of this remarkable lake.
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