Lake Stevens, Washington - History

History

The land upon which the business section of Lake Stevens and Rucker Bros.' sawmill now stands was originally filed upon by C. A. Missimer on October 8, 1889. It was later sold by him to Robert Folsom, and then rebought by Missimer. The first attempt at a townsite was made in 1890 by Mr. Missimer and Harold W. Ilman, who platted a small townsite of two blocks consisting of forty-eight lots on the ground now used as a mill site of Rucker Bros., and an irregular block of twenty-six lots running along the lake shore to the south. This townsite was named "Outing," but was later vacated. The Missimer land passed into the hands of the Rucker brothers after several transfers, and most of it not used by this firm for their mill site has been sold by metes and bounds, rather than through any regular townsite plat. This is true of the land upon which the business portion of the town is built.

The land including a portion of the residential district to the north of the mill and around the lake was platted February 8, 1908, by Rucker Brothers, Inc., W. J. Rucker, president. This included all of lot 1, section 8, township 29 north, range 6 east. Located on the shores of the largest lake in the county, and but a few miles from Everett, with a paved highway connecting, it has been but natural that most of the land around this body of water has been cut into small acreage tracts. This movement to small tracts and summer homes around the lake was commenced as early as 1891, when Gustav T. Sorenson filed his "Five-acre Tracts." Other plats filed since then have included the Lake Stevens Summer Home Tracts, 1907, by W. F. Swalwell; Lake Stevens Garden Tracts, 1906, by John Stich; Chautauqua Park, 1906, by H. W. Hlman and A. C. Illman; Lake Stevens Water Front Tracts, 1911, Everett Improvement Company, with a later addition in 1913; Lake Stevens Park, John Stich, 1913; Lake Stevens Summer Home Tracts, 1907, Interurban Realty Company, W. F. Swalwell, president; Lake Stevens Sandy Beach Tracts, 1919, by Frank Lenander and A. A. Bailey; Nyden Farms on Lake Stevens, 1919, by Burke, Farrar, Inc.; Delaney Lake Stevens Home Tracts, 1920, George C. Teal and Alma Teal; Williams Park, 1920, Thomas Williams and Ella Williams; Bailey's First Addition to Sandy Beach Tracts, 1924, by A. A. Bailey, and a later one in 1925; and the Lake View Tracts, 1926, by S. E. Bargreen.

Practically all of the shore line of this beautiful lake is now platted into small lots and tracts. It furnishes an ideal location for summer homes and resorts; and land values have increased rapidly in this section of the county the past several years. Several resorts and playgrounds have been established around the lake the past few years, including Williams Park, Davies', Lundeen's, Price's, Basseler's, and the Kansas Camping Ground.

The town is a trading point for a fast growing rural section of the county. It has a bank, the Bank of Lake Stevens, established in 1915, of which Judge W. P. Bell, of Everett, is president. C. G. Cockburn is cashier. Edward Van Dyke has been postmaster since October, 1922. J. J. Sheehan, insurance man and real estate dealer, was first postmaster of the town, serving from the time the office was established in 1916, until Van Dyke took over the office in 1922. The town has a physician, dentist, and chiropractor, namely, Dr. O. R. Allen, Dr. Harry Walters, and Mollie Van Dyke.

Other business houses of the town are the Ben Mitchell Pharmacy, Eggart Mercantile Company, Berg's Cash Grocery, Paar Meat Market, Berg Shoe Shop, Marquardt Theatre, Hansen's Service Station, Kettelson & Loth Auto Repair Station, Rhodes Palace of Sweets, and the Cole Pool Room and Barber Shop.

The large sawmill of Rucker Brothers has not been running since a disastrous fire of a year ago. This mill has been one of the big factors in the building up of the prosperous town of Lake Stevens, and residents of the vicinity are looking torward to the time when it will again resume operations. It was erected in 1907. The Odd Fellows have a lodge in Lake Stevens, Henry Leickhem being its secretary. Mrs. G. A. Marsh is secretary of the local Rebekah lodge. The Friends have a church, the building having been erected in 1907. In 1905 the Baptists erected a church, and it is now presided over by the Rev. Sam Sandberg. One of the active agencies in the town's growth and welfare is the Decory Society, organized by the ladies of the town. A splendid school system is maintained, consisting of a corps of fourteen teachers, under the supervision of I. R. Tisdale as superintendent.