New Online App Guides You Through Everett’s Past
Editor’s note: Originally published October 24, 2018. Republished May 19, 2022.
It’s hard for me to choose my favorite old Everett building.
I love the “ghost town” vibe and creaky wooden 1920s track of the YMCA building, but I also like the Art Deco flourishes of the Main Library on Hoyt.
The Labor Temple was built in 1929 and was completed right before the Great Depression. // Historic Everett
If you, too, like walking downtown and ogling classy older buildings, try the city’s new walking tour app on your mobile device.
Presto! You have a knowledgeable local tour guide right in your pocket.
The digital guide will direct you on a tour through the downtown core: approximately a seven-by-four block radius hemmed in by Pacific and Everett Avenues to the north-south, and by Grand Avenue and Broadway on the east-west axis. The boundaries form a neat little walkable corridor that can be covered in a spare morning, afternoon, or evening.
Each of the 30 stops on the walking tour is accompanied by historical notes about the building’s history and architecture.
The tour includes a lot of architectural goodies that I already knew and many buildings that I didn’t know anything about, but have seen a million times.
The app organizes buildings into eras: You can sidewalk surf past edifices from the Rockefeller Boom, the Hill Revival, the Twenties Boom, or the Great Depression. These sortable time periods help the foot-traffic tourist to gain an appreciation for the stages of development in the nascent mill town.
Learn the often-surprising stories behind buildings you see every day and probably take for granted: the Monte Cristo Hotel, the Federal Building on Colby Avenue, and the Knights of Columbus Building.
This was Everett’s first library. It held 1,000 titles. It’s since been a funeral parlor and an office for county executives. It’s one of 30 stops on the walking tour. // Snohomish County
Next time you’re downtown, take a stroll through the past. You may be startled by what’s always been right there in front of your very eyes.
ACCESS THE SHORT OR LONG VERSIONS OF THE TOUR HERE.
Richard Porter is a writer for Live in Everett.