Marysville, Washington - History

History

"Marysville - this is the name given to the new townsite where Mr. Comeford has located, near the mouth of Ebey Slough. He is putting up a store building, 22 by 36 feet, and a dwelling house that may be used as a hotel. This is the finest available townsite between here (Snohomish) and Priest Point. Within two and one-half miles of here over 1,000 acres of beaver marsh and 500 acres of alder bottom land are found. Mr. Comeford is laying out the townsite, will get a postoffice, and soon there will be fifty or a hundred families where none now live."

Comeford First Settler

The foregoing is what may well be termed the "Birth Notice" of the city of Marysville, as it was published in the Northern Star of Snohomish, on June 12, 1878. J. P. Comeford and his wife, Maria, came to Snohomish County in 1872, and for nine years they conducted the post trading store at the Tulalip Agency. During the early years of the county the mouth of the Snohomish River was the scene of the most active logging operations and the Comeford store not only traded with the Indians but had a large business with the many camps. By 1875 there were no less than eighteen camps for which this store was one of the main sources of supply and Comeford had prospered accordingly. He was a man of much business ability and vision and this led him to acquire land in what he considered the best location for a trading post, outside of the reservation, but as near it as possible, and he accordingly bought the claims of Truman Ireland, John Stafford and Louis Thomas, and soon after, the claim of Captain William Renton, of Port Blakeley. There were 1,280 acres in this tract and it cost Comeford $450. It was in 1877 that Mr. Comeford made these plans for a new trading post, but according to the Star, it was 1878 before he began to carry them out and Marysville was born. The story is told that while his plans were forming Comeford had as his guests James Johnson and Thomas Lloyd, of Marysville, Calif., and that at their request he named the new town 'Marysville' after their California. home. Included with the store building and the residence which "might be used as a hotel," there was a dock on Ebey Slough, together with a warehouse.

The next step taken to draw trade to the proposed town was a petition for the establishment of a postoffice. Comeford's shrewdness was again called into play at this time, for there were not enough white settlers to sign the petition and he prevailed on some of his Indian friends to sign it, providing them with "Boston" names for the occasion. With such a fine showing the authorities could not refuse, and the postoffice of Marysville was established in 1878, with John Comeford as postmaster. In 1879 the school district, No. 10, was organized, upon petition signed by Comeford and others. The boundaries of this school district were large and were described as follows: "From Deadwater Slough to the mouth of the Snohomish River, along the coast to H. A. Smith's island, to the mouth of Steamboat Slough and thence to the east line of the Indian reservation.'"' The first school was located, however, not on the townsite, but on the Woods' farm, two miles east. There was very little settlement or progress of any kind in Snohomish County from 1879 until 1883, and during these years Marysville consisted only of the Cometord concern. A second building was erected for hotel purposes, apart from the residence. This was begun in 1882 and "dedicated" on the Foirth of July, 1883, with a grand celebration which was participated in by loggers, ranchers and Indians. Ranolo Packwood read the Declaration of Independence at this first Marysville celebration and Will Morris delighted with an exhibition of riding on the dangerous, high-wheel bicycle - the first machine of its kind in Snohomish County. There was feasting and the inevitable dance. Up to this time, however, Marysville was strictly a one-man town, with Comeford as merchant, hotelkeeper, postmaster and mail carrier, wading through the marshes more than a mile to get the mail brought by the steamer Chehalis or the Nellie, and the fifty to one hundred families, so glibly prophesied by the Star failed to materialize.

First Town Plat, 1885

Better times and many new people came to the county in 1883 and it was then that Comeford began to think it might be worth while to plat the townsite, but he seems to have been in no hurry about this, for it was not until February 25, .1885, that the plat was filed by J. D. Morris and dedicated by J. P. and Maria Comeford, with Matilda and Ranolo Packwood as witnesses. This plat contained nine blocks. Wilham H. Westover, one of the pioneers of the Kellogg Marsh, came in 1884, and he and a few others built the first trail into Marysville from the north, this being the first sign of increasing business. Soon after the town was platted, the Star an- nounced (June 6, 1885) that Comeford had sold store, wharf and warehouse and would confine himself to looking after his townsite interests and to managing the hotel. The buyers were Mark Swinnerton and H. B. Myers, who were partners and, later, rivals in trade and politics. The Star contains a write-up of Marysville at this time, the reporter journeying from Snohomish to Marysville on horseback and passing the farms of Parker, Hogan, Crease, Packwood, and Hughes, who had +CO acres on Ebey Slough. At Marysville he found the hotel, by Comeford, the Swinnerton & Myers store and a two-story residence being erecied by J. C. Lambert and he noted that Comeford had sold a number of lots to Edward Steele, of Kansas. Although many notes of progress are made concerning other parts of the county, the Star contains but few additional references to Marysville during 1885. An effort was made to have the old school district, No. 10, divided, and County Superintendent, Mrs. Ie. C. Granger, granted the petition and created District No. 20, but owing to the fact that she altered the houndaries of the new district from those originally asked, the county attorney gave it as his opinion that her action was without effect. In the school notes in the Star for the year mention is made of S. S. Murphine as a teacher from Marysville and the apportionment for the district was $85.48, which would indicate about fifty-five of school age. The only other mentions during the latter part of 1885 were to the effect that J. C. Lambert had been granted a liquor license, and that Rev. H. B. Potter would preach on sunday at 11 A. M. at Marysville Landing, and at 3 P. M. at the Marysville district school.

Description Of Village In 1886

In March, 1886, however, Marysville is spoken of as "a beautiful little town, with well kept hotel, and a well stocked store kept by Mark Swinnerton." "Jimmie" Burton is spoken of as a nearby settler andi it is stated that Father McCauley had heen there recently with the expectation of bringing some 300 immigrants from Canada. "Already," the article continues, "about half a dozen families have settled near Marysville and Mr. Comeford states that the people are busy clearing town lots. Blackman Bros., who have one of the largest logging camps in the county, two miles from Marysville, have concluded to put an engine upon their logging road and in a few days the natives will be startled by the alarm of the Iron Horse as he bathes his sides simultaneously in the mighty waters of the Quilcedar and Puget Sound."

The best printed description of early Marysville is found in the Eye of June 12, 1886. This tells that Edward Steele, proprietor of the wharf and warehouse, was busy enlarging the wharf to four times its former size, and would build a much larger warehouse. A plank road, thirty rods long connected the wharf with the highland. Swinnerton, the merchant, told that a drawbridge across Ebey Slough was contemplated as a private enterprise, and men were at work on the road to the stillaguamish Valley. The Pilchuck Road was also being opened. Postmaster Quinn was busy diking, the dike to be used as a road. This dike was four feet high and ten feet wide, at the top. School facilities were described as consisting of a private school taught by Mrs. J. P. Comeford and the district school, a mile and a half up the river, taught by S. S. Murphine. The only covered carriage in the county was owned by J. W. Vincent, of Wisconsin, who planned a cheese factory, which, however, he did not erect. Note is also made that Comeford had recently purchased a small steam yacht. In December, 1886, E. Steele erected a store build- ing for the new firm of Myers & Schaefer and the year must have been full of bright prospects, for Senator Canfield was projecting a railroad, to pass through Marysville and the Postal Telegraph line was being built. The community took an active interest in politics, Comeford, Murphine and Lloyd being Democratic leaders. C. A. Lloyd was elected as a member of the board of commissioners, at the November, 1886, election; the first Marysville man to hold that office. The vote of the precinct was seventy, with twenty-eight Republicans, thirty-seven Democrats, and five Populists, showing a considerable population.

The first sawmill was erected by E. J. Anderson, in 1887. It was a small affair, using an old thresher engine for motive power. The Ford Shingle mill began business in 1888, the Cox Bros. mill in 1889 and the Stevens & Robe mill in 1890. The Ford mill burned in 1889. In the meantime the countryside, especially the Kellogg Marsh, was filling up with settlers. Isaac Harter came in 1886, settling six miles north of Marysville, and three miles from the end of the trail. T. D. Davis bought in 1887, but did not move onto his claim until 1889. He was located three and a half miles northeast of Marysville. He "packed" his supplies and his wife was one of the five white women in the community. A. M. Westover, six miles north, located in 1888. Isaac Asberry and Logan C. Smith were other 1888 settlers, while John M. Robbins, who first settled at Monroe in 1879, moved to the Kellogg Marsh in 1887. Diking and ditching were being pushed all during this period and land was increasing in value and productiveness.

Boom Days Of 1889

The same impetus of general prosperity and railroad building which resulted in the founding of Everett, affected Marysville in 1889 and the two years following. Contrasting conditions in 1889 with those in 1887, one writer said: "Two years ago there were two stores, each doing a small business; one hotel, (empty) ; ten houses (five empty). Now there are three stores, two hotels, one school house, one saloon, twenty-five dwellings, all occupied, and six under construction, including the magnificent residence of J. P. Comeford, a saw mill with 75,000 feet per day capacity ; two shingle mills, 50,000 and 30,000 capacity, and the Bellingham Bay railroad is coming. There is also a Board of Trade with Steele, Comeford, Swinnerton, Lloyd, Quinn and E. J. Anderson as directors, and two schools, the one east of town being taught by M. F. Shea and the one in town by W. J. Morgan." ©. V. Ward was the great Marysville booster in 1889 and he managed to give the little town much publicity. In one of his many articles he tells of the building of the Arlington hotel in 1884 and the Johnston hotel in 1888; of the Quinn addition, platted in 1888, and the Steele addition in 1889 and of the building of the first schoolhouse in 1887. Among the early settlers he mentions Quinn brothers, D. J. Dale, Johnston, and lists the businesses, as of date December 25, 1889, as follows: Captain Joseph Holmes, Coquette, boat delivery; Johnny Lambert, boat delivery; Mrs. Munson, laundry ; Miss Thompson, bakery; Walter Combs, shoes; G. W. Porter, barber; Lough & Asberry, meats ; M. Swinnerton, general merchandise; H. B. Myers, drugs; Charles Schaefer, groceries; Bill Turner, saloon; E. W. Burns, saloon and chop house; Charles Trousdale, telegraph office and livery; E. L. Holt, manager Hotel Johnston ; L. McCorkendale, blacksmith; Dr. J. S. McIlhaney, physician; Rev. D. B. Austin, preacher; C. H. Schaefer, postmaster.

Two Views Of Marysville In 1891

The building boom continued into 1890; the year opening with the sawmill overcrowded with orders for the many new residences and for the hotel which IE. Smith was building in the Quinn addition. Surveyors for the Fairhaven & Southern were also busy about the town giving hope of the early completion of a railroad. In March, H. B. Myers bought forty acres of the townsite from J. P. Comeford for $12,000, and in August the enterprising citizens felt that a newspaper was necessary. The Stanwood 'Times, which was having a hard struggle for existence, read its people a severe lesson when the merchants of Marysville gave a bonus of a $500 lot, a $300 building, $500 worth of subscriptions and a guarantee of advertising to the extent of $150 per month, for the establishment of a weekly journal. W. B. Shay was the editor said to have received this bonus and the first Marysville newspaper was called the Leader. The brass band, another necessity for a booming city, was organized in May, 1890, and by midsummer Murphy's and Smith, Holland & Company's additions were on the market, lots selling at from $100 to $125, and the Park addition was about to be opened by Marks & Mallett. By November it was reported that Moran was to build a two-story hotel and Creese was to build a sash and door factory.: The citizens started a petition for incorporation and projected a wagon road to Mountain Park. By this time the city had daily mail, via the City of Quincy, on the Seattle-Snohomish run, mail being brought by rail to Snohomish and then down the river. The sensation of the year was the tragic drowning of the well liked teacher, Elizabeth Nearum.

By January, 1891, the county bridge over the Quilcedar was completed and during this year the railroad was completed. Marysville at first gave a bonus of 120 acres to the Fairhaven & Southern, and later, when it was purchased by the Great Northern, another tract of thirty-five acres was donated, which secured the erection of the depot in the heart of the town instead of a mile distant as first planned by the Fairhaven & Southern.

City Incorporates

Owing to errors in the descriptions of the boundaries of the proposed incorporation the petition was held over by the board of commissioners until the February session, 1891, at which time Marysville was incorporated as a city of the fourth class. The first officers of the city were: Mayor, Mark Swinnerton; clerk, M. F. Shea; treasurer, David A. Quinn; councilmen, Edmund Smith, Henry Plate, H. B. Myers, C. H. Schaeffer and Alex. Spithill, and the first meeting of the city council was held March 20, 1891.

This was a year of social as well as business growth. The Good Templars lodge was organized with twenty-two members by Rev. W. C. Brackett, lodge deputy, and with J. S. Sinclair as C. T. and Nellie Robbins, secretary. Ebey Lodge No. 104, of the I. O. O. F. was also instituted, in August, 1891, with a membership of twenty-five. The Fourth of July celebration was the most exuberant since the first one given at the Comeford trading post in 1883. The new band led the parade, a feature of which was the float representing the forty-four states. J. W. Frame was the orator and Miss Birdie Steele read the Declaration. With Everett making such marvellous growth just across the river, it is no wonder that Marysville caught the infection nor that it was seriously proposed by some of its citizens to change the name of Marysville to North Everett. Wiser council prevailed and the city retained its individuality. The first force of the boom days spent itself in 1891, and the next year was one of plodding growth. A volunteer fire department was organized and provided with a fully equipped hook and ladder truck; there was a Dramatic Club which did so well at home that it gave entertainments at Granite Falls and other places; and later in the fall a Democratic Club was formed, with H. B. Myers, who was the second mayor of Marysville, as president, M. F. Shea, vice president; Dr. D. B. Curtiss, secretary, and Frank Bartlett treasurer. The school district voted to issue $10,000 in bonds for the erection of a new school house. This carried by a vote of 128 to 66, and the contract was let to a local firm for $7,400. In April of the following year, just as the building was approaching completion, the contractor absconded, after drawing more than $1,000 and leaving construction bills to be paid and the building to be finished. This necessitated a five mill tax and was a hard blow to the school district, but the handsome brick school was erected and it was one of the finest in the county in its day.

Incidents Of Growth

The great rush of activities at Everett and in a lesser degree at Marysville, with railroads being built, industries being founded, streets being cleared and buildings being erected by the wholesale, drew not only solid, high-grade men, but also attracted a large, loose population of irresponsible adventurers. Especially in the smaller town where police protection could not well be afforded this for a time threatened the community with a wave of crime such as it had never known before. The Globe of May 19, 1892, recites some of the misdeeds inflicted upon what had been a peaceful community and tells of a man being hung in effigy, shops being broken into, oil being poured on meats at the market, bricks thrown through windows and stabbing affrays and urges the authorities to act. The authorities were almost powerless but the situation regulated itself for with the completion of railroads and the slackening of industries as the hard times approached these malcontents drifted to other and more promising fields.

The new town suffered from two memorable fires in 1892. In March, the Seafeldt home burned to the ground and two little girls, Martha, aged nine, and Minnie, aged seven, were burned to death. The heroic mother rescued her threeyear-old twins but was unable to save the little girls, who slept in the upper story. In August, the sash and door factory, to which many citizens had subscribed, was destroyed by fire inflicting a loss of over $5,000. |

While vice may have been rampant during the boom days they also saw the erection of the first church buildings. From the earliest days of settlement occasional church services had been held by the circuit preachers of different denominations in halls or schoolhouses. Rev. A. J. McNamee was one of the early representatives of the Methodist Episcopal church in Marysville, and he succeeded in organizing a little congregation so that his successor, Rev. W. C. Hockett, was able to promote the building of a $3,000 church which was erected in 1891. Among the charter members of this church were Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Chesney, Maria Ladd, Mrs. E. Munson, Annie and Mary Munson, Lestella Bedford, Edwin Norum, Mary, Alice and Vesta Pease, Nellie Robbins and Rose Stevens. The Congregational Society was organized in March, 1893, and its church edifice was erected in 1898. The church directory for 1896 listed the First Baptist, Rev. Philip Graif; the Congregationalist, Rev. O. L. Anderson, and the Methodist, Rev. H. G. Ward.

rowed to place the city on a cash basis, but progress did not cease on account of the hard times and in 1894, Marysville was described as being in a prosperous condition. The most important factor at this time was the Stimson Lumber Company, which had developed into one of the strongest logging concerns in the county and which had built seven miles of its railroad tapping the Stillaguamish Valley. This was incorporated as the Marysville & Northern in 1904. Forty men were employed at the Anderson & Besmer and the Stevens Bros. & Ladd shingle nulls, and the Marysville State Bank, with C. E. Olney, president, and S. F. Smith, cashier, gave solidity to business.

The contract for the city hall was let in June, 1901, for $2,492.72, and in many ways Marysville showed steady progress during the first years of the new century, substantial brick buildings taking the place of many of the pioneer frame structures. [By 1906, the city had established itself as a lumber and shingle manufacturing center of much importance. Among the shingle mills were listed : Ebey Mill Company, capacity 200,000 ; Smith Manufacturing Company, 250,000; Harrington Shinele Company, 125,000; Dexter Mill Company, 100,000; Marysville Shingle Company, 200,000, with lumber capacity of 60,000 feet per day, also. Located in the immediate trade territory were the Summit Mill Company, J. A. Kennedy Mill, Barlow Shingle Company, Nelson Lumber Company, Kruse Bros. & Roberts, Marysville Company. The terminus and booms of the Stimson Logging Company at Ebey Slough were a valuable business asset. The city had then developed an excellent volunteer fire department, with Edward Conrad as chief; electric light and power were supplied by the Everett Railway, Light & Water Company, and the water system, under private ownership gave an abundant supply of excellent water drawn from springs five miles east. Among the representative business men of twenty years ago were E. H. Blair, C. Teager, C. A. Anderson, C. A. Gehlhaar, G. A. Hauschen, L. McCorkindale, H. A. Rathvon, Samuel Andrews, D. N. Fowler, James Harbridge, Steve Saunders, IF. L. Bartlett, C. T. Conrad, M. A. Guy, O. G. Hagen, William White, Myers & Turner, Bertois Packing Company. C. T. Conrad was mayor at this time, with M. Swinnerton as city clerk. The Globe, which succeeded the Leader, was being issued as a semi-weekly, edited by O. L. Anderson, and there were four church organizations, as follows: Baptist, Rev. W. C. King; Catholic, Rev. Father P. Gard; Methodist, Rev. H. G. Ward; Congregationalist, Rev. O. L. Anderson, who occupied both pulpit and editorial sanctum. The population had grown to about 1,200 at this time.

Passing Of Pioneers

In November, 1906, occurred the death of H. B. Myers, who had been identified with Marysville almost since its beginning as a real town. He was born in Michigan, February 5, 1859, and came to Marysville in 1883, being associated in business with Mark Swinnerton, and later entering business for himself. He was the second mayor of Marysville, serving in that capacity for six years. The city flag was appropriately half masted when the news of the death of this pioneer reached the city from Southern California where he had been in search of health.

But little more than a month later, December 13, 1906, Marysville was again called upon to mourn the death of one of its founders, Mark Swinnerton. He was born on the Isle of Man, July 27, 1841; migrated to Australia when but nineteen, came to America and after living at San Francisco and in Clinton, Iowa, came to cast his lot with the new west, at Marysville. He bought the old Comeford store, and, with H. B. Myers, was the principal merchant for many years. He was noted for his kind heart and his generosity to the poor. Many of the early settlers were helped through the hard times by the credit which he extended them. The stores of the city closed and the city council adjourned out of respect to his memory.

In January, 1907, there occurred the death of another pioneer, William Turner, the keeper of the pioneer saloon. He, too, was known as a liberal, kind-hearted man, and he had a host of friends in the town. Remembering that when Myers and Swinnerton died the city flag was placed at half-mast, the marshal of the city showed the same honor to William Turner. Rev. J. E. Dew Pree objected to this, on the ground of Turner's occupation and the claim that he was not an American citizen, and hauled down the flag. Let it be said to the credit of the goodhearted friendship of Marysville that the city council ordered the flag rehoisted, and guarded, if necessary, during the funeral hours. William Turner was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1838, and came to Snohomish County'in 1868. He worked as a logger and later engaged in the liquor business.

Later Development

1906 was a busy year for Marysville in many respects. In August bonds were voted for an additional school building as the high school had been crowded into the basement of the Methodist Church. The validity of this election was taken to the courts and finally declared legal, but the delay caused the bonds to be sold bearing six per cent interest instead of to the state at four per cent. The Smith & Asberry brick block and the Howard block, of three stories, were erected in 1906, and the postoffice, with H. A. Rathvon, postmaster, moved into handsome new quarters. The fire department was reorganized in February of this year with C. A. Schaefer, chief, Chas. Raymond, assistant, and Archie Myers, secretary.

The year 1907 witnessed the founding of the public library and the library association was organized to aid it, in 1908. This latter year was notable for the institution of the Afton Chapter of the Eastern Star; the first officers being Adelaide Munn, Worthy Matron; William Guy, Worthy Patron, and George Swinnerton, secretary. The alumni association of the high school was formed in 1908, the first class having graduated in June, 1907. The officers of this association were Bertha Beaman, president; Blanch Perkins, vice president, Mary Shoultes, secretary, and Edna Pease, treasurer. The Chamber of Commerce was also organized in 1908. The men who headed this organization were F. C. Bertois, president; T. D. Davis, vice president; P. E. Coffin, secretary; G. O. Morrison, treasurer. A noteworthy feature of this first meeting was the talk given by C. J. Stuart, of Monroe, president of the Great Northern Berry Company, his talk leading to a large increase in berry growing in the vicinity.

Throughout the succeeding years Marysville kept pace in every way with the progress of the times. During the great war it took conspicuous part in all the activities of Snohomish County. It has at no time known any serious reverses of fortune, and the thriving little city first visioned by J. P. Comeford nearly sixty years ago, has become a splendid reality.

Modern Marysville

Marysville in 1926 is credited with the most commendable record of a third class city government in the state of Washington, having been on a strictly cash basis in the matter of city finances for more then ten successive years, and having had to pay interest on city warrants amounting to $11 from the time the present city clerk, Walter S. Myers, first took charge of that office in 1914. It is the north terminus of the most extensive series of steel drawbridges now being built and is one of the attractive and notable places on the Pacific Highway. Its industries include the large cedar siding and shingle plant of the John McMaster Shingle Company, and the same company's shingle mill No. 2, which was formerly the Plont Manufacturing Company mill, the two plants being managed by Superintendent B. A. Terry. The Pacific Woodenware Company, P. L. Blum of Marshfield, Wis., president, H. A. Brokaw, secretary-treasurer and general manager, capital $50,000, early in 1926 purchased the plant of the defunct Mutual Shingle Company, remodeled the main building, 30 by 100 feet, built a new finishing department structure, 84 by 96 feet, installed a complete equipment of new machinery, and late in the autumn began operating the only woodenware factory in northern Washington, making a specialty of butter tubs and ferkins in shooks complete, with spruce staves and heads, and requiring in full operation fifty to seventy-five men, cutting up approximately 75,000 staves daily, five machines. At this time two or three important new industrial establishments are in process of preparation to be built, and the progressive men of the town look forward to a continuance of the singularly unbroken record of Marysville in upbuilding and growth, the substantial population now having reached about 2,000.

The spirited advancement of the town in recent years is credited to the effective cooperation of the city council with the Marysville Commercial Club, organized in 1923 with C. H. Schaefer president and W. S. Myers secretary-treasurer, and now having thirty-five active members, and the ladies of the Log Cabin Club, of which Mrs. Jane McCann is president and Mrs. Lillian Adams secretary, affiliated with the Snohomish County District Federation of Women's Clubs. These three votaries of civic progress first united forces in 1921 for the establishment of the present excellent municipal water system. Prolific springs eight and a half miles northwest of the city at an altitude of 240 feet were located, a water shed of fiftyseven acres was purchased, the spring flow confined in a reservoir, the existing distribution system extended and amplified, water revenue bonds of $43,000 and city bonds of $41,000 were issued and sold, and the system completed at a cost of $100,000. The earlier water system obtained its supply from an unprotected and inadequate creek near Sunnyside. It had been sold to B. J. and J. W. Rucker, who later found it unsatisfactory and unprofitable and presented it to the city. A sinking fund was started in 1923 calculated to retire all the bonds in 1932. The water system now provides ample gravity pressure for fire protection, this pressure being regulated and augmented during emergencies by a 50,000 gallon steel tank erected in the City Park at a cost of $11,168, the water level in the reservoir being 100 feet from the ground. The fire department maintains a central station in the city hall building on Third Street, in the tower of which is a sonorous siren, as well as a bell alarm. John Geddes 1s chief of the department, which is equipped with an auto hook and ladder truck, 60-gallon chemical engine, 2,000 feet of fire hose and a Ford-Dunn auto hose truck. It is a volunteer force with twelve firemen, and in

State Street

- Permanent cement street paving was begun in 1914, when Cedar Street was paved twenty-six feet in width from First to Fifth streets, followed in 1916 by the paving of the Pacific Highway streets, Third and State. In addition to street paving, the town has many cement sidewalks along streets that have not been paved. In 1925 the total assets under control of the city government were valued at $294,- 179.99; liabilities, $103,945.53, showing an excess of $190,234.46 of assets over liabilities, while the assessed valuation of all properties in the city increased from $376,976 in 1925 to $402,259 in 1926. All the banking of the community and district is done through the Marysville State Bank, established in 1890 by the late S. T. Smith and since conducted by his son, L. C. Smith, president ; capital and surplus $30,000: E. ff. Colvin is cashier.

The first mayor and city council, elected March 12, 1891, were: Mark Swinnerton, mayor; H. B. Myers, Alexander Spithill, E. Smith, H. Plate, councilmen ; D. A. Quinn, treasurer. Dr. J. D. Morris, the first physician in the town and first health officer, now resides in Seattle and is ninety-three years old. The present city officers are: Mayor John Hilton, Clerk W. S. Myers, Treasurer R. V. Delano, Police Judge John Jacklin, Marshal and Street Commissioner W. G. McClafflin, Water Superintendent W. H. Mott, Councilmen Alexander Lark, John J. Jacklin, S. T. Asbery, E. A. Terry and Frank Stallman. One of the original sixty-four petitioners for incorporation in February, 1891, was John Hilton, an uncle of the present mayor; other petitioners were James S. MclIlhaney, M. F. Shea, W. B. Shay, M. Swinnerton, S. W. Sisco, A. Spithill, Walter 5. Myers, Chas. H. Schaefer and P. McCann.

Marysville is an attractive home town, having many social activities and pronounced civic spirit and pride. It maintains four noteworthy churches, each being a handsome house of worship, headed by the First Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of State and Third streets, of which Rev. T. H. Jorgenson is pastor, while just a block distant, at the corner of State and Fourth, is the First Baptist Church. The Catholic Church also rejoices in a strong membership and the service is at present supplied from Everett, Rev. Father O'Donnell being a popular priest with this congregation. The Nazarene Church at the corner of Fourth and Alder streets also enjoys a devoted following among the people of Marysville, usually maintaining a resident pastor, although just at this time temporarily without one. Fraternal orders and societies such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union are well represented and actively maintained. The splendid Odd Fellows Temple establishment on Third Street, an imposing two-story reinforced cement structure, with paneled outer walls and minaretted parapets at the top, and with spacious and well appointed and equipped lodge, banquet and entertainment subdivisions, remains the most popular social and fraternal center of the community, owned and managed by the principal fraternal order of the city, Ebey Lodge, I. O. ©. F. The city government and the Log Cabin Club jointly maintain the Marysville Public Library, which is acceptably housed on the second floor of the city hall. Mrs. Frances B. Mott is the librarian in charge and the library includes approximately 2,000 bound volumes of well selected literature, the collection having been started by the Book Club, organized in 1904, later aided by the Civic Club.

In December, 1910, the city bought from S. T. Smith fourteen vacant lots fronting on State Street, which through the activity of the city council, Com- mercial Club and Log Cabin Club, has been developed as an attractive city park, close to the business center and facing the Pacific Highway. The ladies of the club raised money for improvement and equipment, and with the three organizations cooperating, the park was soon provided with a carpet of grass, a handsome fountain and pool for aquatic plants, a drinking fountain, band stand, women's and men's toilet and wash rooms, and tourist camp facilities, including a camp kitchen with cooking range. The city provides about $500 annually for maintenance, and auto touring parties pay a nominal charge of fifty cents a day for occupying the tourist camp and facilities, including the original log cabin park center and reception quarters. Shower bath equipment is in prospect for 1927. The same workers are now advocating and trying to provide for the purchase of a ten-acre natural city park area on Quilceda Creek, at the west limits of the city, and petitions and plans are in preparation for the establishment of a complete modern sewer system for the city, this project being headed by the Commercial Club and city council.

There are four large automobile garages in Marysville and the town has become a considerable auto supply, repair and used car center. One of its principal trade resources is the Tulalip Indian reservation, practically all the Indians being prosperous, with the agency center only seven miles distant over a good gravel highway. Commercial production of Dutch flower bulbs has received its most considerable inception in the Marysville locality within the last three or four years, among the principal growers being the Madden Bulb Garden on north Cedar Street, F. A. and A. J. Taylor, Mrs. Lillian Adams and Frank Workman, the latter beginning with one or more acres of bulbs immediately north of the city in the autumn of 1926. In this year also the great Washington Cooperative Egg & Poultry Association has prepared for the establishment of a central plant by purchasing the former Royal Cedar Mill Company site at the foot of Delta Street. It is understood that a factory for the production of egg crates and cartons, as weil as an egg and poultry warehouse and shipping station are contemplated, though no announcement is at this time available. Commercial poultrying in the Marysville district has been rapidly expanding within the last five years, with individual poultry yards ranging from 500 to 5,000 laying hens, and an estimated total of more than 90,000 laying hens in the Marysville district. There is also much talk of the prospects of striking petroleum oil with the elaborate oil well drilling concern which has been operating all summer near Lake Goodwin, twelve miles northwest from Marysville, reporting most encouraging indications of petroleum gas and oil bitbbles at this time, and Marysville people anticipate much stimulation of industrial activity if oil in commercial quantities be tapped.

With such a record of uninterrupted advancement and growth up to the present time and with so many encouraging indications and projects in evidence assuring at least immediate future progress, Marysville people are among the most optimistic to be found in Snohomish County.