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Edmonds

A quiet town midway between Seattle and Everett on Puget Sound. In 1868 Pleasant H. Elwell built a cabin here; four years later George Brackett, who subsequently became the town’s first mayor, seeking refuge from a storm, saw the possibilities of the heavily forested area near water transportation and shortly thereafter, purchased the Elwell Claim. Soon the settlement became a logging and sawmill center. Edmonds is probably the only town in the United States that included the names of animals on its petition for incorporation. It is said that, in 1890, when the petition was drawn up, it was discovered that it fell short by two names of the required number, and those of two oxen, Bill and Bolivar, were added. The income of the town was today drawn chiefly from poultry raising, a large co-operative shingle mill, and commercial flower gardens.

Edmonds is now home to a marina and fishing pier, numerous beaches, parks, shops, and restaurants. The city also has an active arts community. Year-round festivals and events showcase the town’s history and civic achievements.

Edmonds offers unusually fine views of the Sound. Westward, across a stretch of water, is the jagged line of the Olympic Mountains. Edmonds is the only port of Puget Sound from which the Juan de Fuca Strait can be seen between the maze of islands. Ferries run to Port Ludlow and Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula and to Kingston on Kitsap Peninsula.

Images

1911 image of the passenger steamship S. S. Indianapolis, which served Edmonds and other cites on Puget Sound.

Source: Washington State Historical Society

Historic view of the Edmonds Carnegie Library.

Source: Washington State Historical Society

Points of Interest Points of Interest icon

Edmonds Carnegie Library

The Edmonds Carnegie Library was built in 1910. The Andrew Carnegie Foundation funded 1689 library buildings in the United States in the early 20th Century. The building is significant for the luxury it provided that is tied to the social, commercial and cultural life on the Puget Sound at the beginning of this Century.

Olympic View Hotel

The Olympic View Hotel was built in 1894 by Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Stevens in a Victorian style with a wood shingled mansard roof.

Brackett’s Landing

Brackett’s Landing is the beach site where George Brackett landed his canoe during a storm in 1870. The site represents the first wedge in the opening up of this part of the Washington-Oregon Territory. As early as 1884, George Brackett and his wife, Etta, filed a plat for the township of Edmonds.

Edmonds High School

Edmonds High School was constructed in 1909 and enlarged in 1921 and 1939. Until 1955, the building was the only school serving the rural area between Seattle and Everett. The architect for the 1909 school building was James Stephen, Seattle city school architect. Stephen was a staunch advocate of fireproof masonry construction and persuaded the school board to select a brick school at the cost of $30,000.

Ganah-Hanley Log Cabin

The Canah-Hanley Log Cabin was built in the early 1930s for Gaston Alfred Beck Ganahl. In 1930 Caston purchased acreage in the Seaview Heights area of Edmonds and had the cabin built soon after as a guesthouse. The cabin was used often during the next fifteen years by visiting relatives and friends. The Hanley family purchased the property and cabin in 1945 and gifted the cabin to the City of Edmonds in 1975. The City moved the cabin two miles from the Seaview area to the town’s center on August 27th. Although not a pioneer log cabin, it is uniquely inspired by the recreational cabins at Yellowstone National Park.

IOOF Hall

Built in 1894, the Edmonds IOOF Hall housed the first public meetings in Edmonds. It was the home of the first Fraternal organization of any kind in Edmonds and the first moving pictures north of Seattle were shown here in 1909.

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