Snohomish Historical Society

05/30/2026

We’ve been doing “This Day in Snohomish History” posts for one year! There are many more stories to tell of big events and day-to-day life in Snohomish’s past, so stay tuned for more photos, maps, articles, and narratives from yesteryear. Missed some of our previous posts? We’ll be featuring last year’s in our Stories as the date circles around again, or you can check them out anytime in our This Day highlight on Instagram.

05/30/2026

We have made a lot of progress on our basement restoration project! Flooring currently going in. We are so grateful to Washington Trust for Historic Preservation for this grant and excited to have a proper Archive and Research Room!

05/16/2026

Sneak peek at tomorrow’s goodies!
We’re so excited to showcase even more of Snohomish’s talented citizens at Saturday’s “Three Fingers” book talk with Malcolm S. Bates at The Waltz Building

One lucky attendee will win this personal custom cheesecake, while everyone will receive one of two versions of gorgeous Three Fingers cookies in their “provisions bags” — the perfect mountain adventure treat!

These beautiful creations were made by young baker Megan Morales, a Snohomish High School graduate. We love shining a spotlight on our local talent!

Don’t miss your chance to join us tomorrow at 3 p.m.! Tickets are still available — last chance!

05/15/2026

Last chance to grab tickets for Saturday’s event
at The Waltz Building !

Don’t miss your chance to hear Snohomish native Malcolm S. Bates kick off his book tour series with stories from his fully revised and expanded history — “Three Fingers: The Mountain, a Lookout, and Its Lookouts” — the ONLY book ever written about this iconic site..

All $20 ticket proceeds support the interior restoration of the Waltz Building. Tiicket link in comments. Attendees get a free "provisions bag", raffle entry, author meet and greet, and chance to grab a signed copy!

Check out Mac"s interview in the Snohomish County Tribune:
https://www.snoho.com/news/2026/may/13/new-book-tells-of-three-fingers-lookouts-history/

(Event is tomorrow at 3 p.m. — and nearing sell put)

SNOHOMISH — The Three Fingers lookout has sat improbably on the mountain’s southern peak for almost 100 years. It’s a well-worn, well-loved shack that offers views from Vancouver Island all the way to Olympia for those who complete the 4,200 feet of elevation gain.

05/02/2026

We’re a day late—but this one is worth pausing for. On this day in Snohomish History...

On May 1, 1865, Mary Low Sinclair arrived by steamer to join her husband, Woodbury Sinclair at a place then known as Cadyville. She stepped into a rough clearing along the Snohomish River that was only just beginning to take shape.

Mary wasn’t new to frontier life. She had come west with her family in the Denny Party in 1851 She brought that hard-earned experience with her.

Within weeks of arriving, she endured the loss of her infant son, Alvin. Despite this, she helped move the settlement toward permanence. In 1869, she opened her home for one of the town’s first formal school sessions, even helping translate for children of Indigenous families who spoke little or no English.

What she helped build here wasn’t defined by a single “first,” but by something far more lasting.
Mary’s story is one of continuity—bringing experience from earlier settlements, adapting to a new landscape, and helping create the structures that allowed a community to take hold.

You can find her story at Stop #4 on the Snohomish Heritage Trail (pictured). The interpretive signs were written and designed by Warner Blake—local historian, author, artist, and past president of the Snohomish Historical Society.

First image: Lowe family circa 1860 Mary is lower right. From A. A. Denny, Pioneer Days on Puget Sound.

04/29/2026

This Day in Snohomish History:

Construction of the Snohomish Courthouse on 5th and Ave D, now the site of Snohomish High School, was completed at the end of April, 1891, with the cornerstone laid in September of the previous year. Delos D. Near of Portland, OR drew the plans and Daniel Warner of Seattle won the construction bid ($23,940). H.C. Comegys was appointed Superintendent of Construction. The stately building had no expense spared, with sandstone sourced from the Chuckanut quarry in Bellingham and brick from the Bast brickyards in Snohomish.

In 1894, a controversial vote resulted in Snohomish losing the county seat to the nearby town of Everett. Two years of fighting, court battles, and vote canvassing resulted in the definitive ruling that Everett had won. On a cold January eve in 1897, 37 empty wagon teams pulled up in front of the Snohomish courthouse and hauled away the county records to their new home in Everett. Sadly many of our oldest records were destroyed in their new home when it burned in an arson fire in 1909.

November longer the courthouse, the private Puget Sound Academy from Coupeville moved into the building in 1897. It was then sold to the city in 1906 for use as a public high school. Much of the original building was demolished when the high school was renovated in 1938. Old jail cells in the basement were discovered in a 1980s remodel.

04/25/2026

Today is the 36th annual Larry Eason Invitational at Snohomish High!

04/25/2026

Congratulations to board director, author, and historian Taylor Russell of SnohomishWalks for winning the League of Snohomish County Heritage Organizations 2025 Malstrom Award, book category, for Lost and Forgotten: A True History of Snohomish’s First Cemetery. Congratulations also to Fred Cruger of Granite Falls and Maria Skalsky of Index for their award winning projects, and thank you LOSCHO/Historic Everett/Port of Everett for hosting the awards lunch.

Scroll through the photos to learn more about this award and all of the nominees. Pick up your copy of Lost and Forgotten and learn more about the Pioneer Cemetery and its residents at snohomishcemetery.com!

04/25/2026

This Day in Snohomish History:

April 24, 1923, marks the death of Julia Jack, more commonly known as Pilchuck Julia and called the “Indian Princess” of the Snohomish Tribe by white folks. Julia had opted out of the seasonal smallpox vaccine and became ill with fever, rash, and ultimately heart and lung complications that took her life. A motorized hearse carried Julia to the Pioneer Cemetery, where special care was taken during her burial to prevent exposure to the infectious disease. A reverend conducted a brief committal service, but there was no gathering of mourners, nor any flowers or ceremony.

Julia was laid to rest beside her husband, Jack, and their son, Peter. She was the final interment at the Pioneer Cemetery, which had seen years of declining use as locals chose GAR instead. It was fitting that Julia, a Coast Salish native, was the last to be laid to rest in this sacred ground—used for centuries for burials before white settlers claimed it as a cemetery. Today, the burial grounds are divided in half by 2nd Street between Pine Avenue and the Pilchuck River, with barely any markers of the history beneath the earth.

Read more about Julia and the Pioneer Cemetery in Lost and Forgotten by and at snohomishcemetery.com